


Death Valley

by Achievelandia



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/M, Fake AH Crew, Fluff, GTA AU, Genderswap Jack, I regret literally nothing, M/M, Mafia AU, Mallius!Jack Facecast, Mavin, cops and crooks, gavin rides a bike, heisting, nothing is canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-04 04:37:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1765738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achievelandia/pseuds/Achievelandia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Funds are getting low, Jack."</p><p>Geoff joined her on the plush black leather couch, his beer in one hand and a brown Manila envelope in the other. She knew what it meant before she even asked, feeling a swell of anticipation build in her gut. It was time. The question was, would they make it through this job, or would it break them completely?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Suit Up

**Author's Note:**

> Facecast for Jack is a beautiful drawing by Mallius that you can find [HERE.](http://mallius.tumblr.com/post/73890889514/the-rook-the-queen)
> 
> I also wrote this while listening to an amazing playlist called The Duckies by jlowi that you can find [HERE.](http://8tracks.com/jlowi/the-duckies)
> 
> Most of the warnings are for later chapters and the rating is just covering me in case I put anything in that isn't covered by the Mature rating so... yeah, enjoy and let me know what you think!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've noticed in the comments that there are a couple of things that needed editing so I've worked through chapter one again and I'm going to make my way through the rest as well. Don't panic, there won't be any huge changes; just grammar and a couple of instances in which I accidentally un-genderbent Jack. Thank you guys for all of your support and little bits of constructive criticism, it really helps to make the story better for you all :)

It was a strange thing for Jack to walk out of her bathroom early on a morning and find Geoff sitting on her breakfast bar with a beer in his hand, but that didn't mean she was opposed to the idea — although whenever Geoff was around her alcohol stocks definitely took a hit. Pulling her shirt over her head as she walked into the open plan kitchen she smirked at Geoff's reddening face before grabbing an open carton of orange juice from the refrigerator.

"I see you found the beer."

"You never hide it very well."

Laughing quietly, Jack wandered over to the couches, swigging from her orange juice as she went. Geoff soon joined her on the plush black leather, his beer in one hand and a brown Manila envelope in the other. She knew what it meant before she even asked, feeling a swell of anticipation build in her gut. It was time.

"Funds are getting low, Jack."

She nodded, sweeping her red hair from her face and up into a loose ponytail as Geoff placed the envelope on the table. Pulling out three files she laid them out on the table and scanned them over quickly; a 7/11, a jewellery store and a bank. Three levels of risk to choose from. There were benefits and drawbacks to them all, and every one would require at least a couple days of careful prep and surveillance as well as hiring in external help. 

"We've been out of business for a while, Geoffy. I'm thinking the bank might be a bit too much for us. I mean it's not Arcadia, but it'll still be heavily defended."

Geoff nodded, knowing exactly what she was thinking. The jewellery store would be a good haul of cash and wouldn't carry the same dangers as the bank, giving them the best of both worlds; ”Vangelico's it is then."

"We're going to need Ryan for the alarms, and Ray to fence the goods. He'll probably be a good bet for providing overwatch too." 

Geoff made a noise of agreement, finishing his beer and standing to place it in the trash.

"We're gonna need muscle, maybe two others. You can handle transport, right?"

Jack paused, doing a double take as she ran the numbers in her head. It was easily a six man job, leading her to a conclusion that made her frown, "You're going in with them?"

Shrugging, Geoff pulled out his phone, "Can't expect them to do all the hard work for the same amount of money, can I. I'm thinking that Michael guy that helped us out last time, the one with the swanky Gauntlet."

"In that case we may as well bring his buddy in too, the British guy."

"Michael and Gavin it is, you mind ringing them while I get in touch with the R and R Connection?"

Jack said nothing in response, simply fetching her prepaid burner phone and punching in one of the young man's numbers. Handling the recruitment for the job was fairly simple, there would be no talk of percentages until the job had actually been worked out and planned and they would need to get together for that. Organising a meeting at a warehouse owned by an old friend of Geoff's that they used as a base of operations Jack called both Michael and Gavin in the time it took Geoff to get hold of Ryan and Ray. With everyone set to meet it was simply a matter of planning the damn job.

* * *

By the time Geoff and Jack reached the warehouse Gavin and Michael were already there, leaning up against the dark blue Gauntlet that Michael had dubbed the Double-Oh-Mogar, with Gavin's lurid purple motorbike parked nearby. 

"You still need a license, Gav!"

"Why? It's not like they're ever going to catch me."

"Until the next time you crash into a fucking street light and brain yourself, you fool.”

“ _Mi_ chael! That was one time, _and_ I was bevved up!”

The conversation came to a halt as Geoff and Jack pulled up, climbing from Geoff’s unassuming minivan and walking over to the pair. Without a word Geoff unlocked the warehouse door and they all went inside, moving straight to the second floor office and sitting around the large table there. Ray and Ryan turned up soon after, letting themselves in without much of a fuss and joining Jack and the others upstairs. Seeing that they were all present Jack pulled out a folder, taking out the information and throwing it onto the table.

“We’re looking at a jewellery store job,” Geoff began, “It’s gonna be a big haul, so we’re gonna have to be careful how we do this. I want thorough surveillance on the place before we execute, to be sure of the routes and make sure that we don’t have anything wrong. Ryan; I’m gonna need you to disable any alarms and work on the store security, let me know what they’ve got and how we can get around it. Ray; you’ll be fencing the goods and, if you’re up to it, providing overwatch for whoever’s inside.”

The two nodded their assent and Ryan pulled out a tablet to begin his work as Geoff explained the remainder of their jobs.

“Jack; you’ll be handling the vehicles, that means three bikes modded up as much as you think we’ll need and a van for us to stash them in. Michael and Gavin; you’ll be with me, busting into the store and getting the goods.”

He pulled out a map at this point and laid it out in the table, indicating where the store was with a circle of red marker pen and the entrance to a disused subway tunnel nearby, “This leads to the LS River, if we take our bikes in here we’ll be able to get all the way out to the river where Jack can have a truck waiting so we can just ride on in and head to the stash garage.”

Jack grinned as Geoff made a sweeping gesture with his arms as if to say ‘viola’ before she nodded, serious once more, “You’ll need something fast and manoeuvrable. I’d say a Sanchez would be the best.”

“So we’re gonna follow this route on the bikes and park up in the back of a truck that’ll be waiting in the LS River? What’s our play on the guards and stuff, and what if the police show?” Michael pointed to places on the map that worried him, it would be easy for the police to corner them if it all went south.

“I can probably help with that; their alarm system seems fairly basic, I’m already past their firewalls. Their guard rosters are all on here and there seems to only be two on duty at any one time, it should be pretty easy for you to subdue them and I can reroute the silent alarm that the teller will more than likely trigger when you wander in there with assault rifles.” Ryan didn’t even look up from his tablet as he answered Michael’s concerns.

“That’s settled then. What about disguises and stuff, are we masking up like we did last time?”

Geoff laughed, “Yeah, I suppose we could take a trip down to Vespucci Movie Masks, why not. When we get inside shit’s gonna hit the fan pretty quick but as long as we get rid of those guards fast as dicks then we shouldn’t have too much of a problem. Then it’s just a smash and grab and getting out of there. We’ll dry run the route before we do it just to be sure. That way we can find a place for Ray to hide out when we case the joint.”

“I’ll come with you on the first run then, see if I can find a good spot with a nice field of view, not too boxed in.” Ray spoke up for the first time the entire meeting.

Geoff simply nodded his assent and took one final look at the map, “That’s all I can think of for now. If you guys want to get started on getting vehicles together I’ll set up the board and make up a list of shit we need.”

They all rose from the table almost simultaneously and went about getting started; Jack made a call about getting three Sanchez’s, Ray conferred with Ryan about how they should split the goods between their contacts when fencing them and Michael and Gavin started an argument about team names, settling on Team Nice Dynamite as the ‘least gay’ of all the suggestions before moving on to figure out names for everyone else.

Deciding that it would probably be best to get them out of the warehouse and out of everyone else's way Geoff grabbed the two and took them out to the minivan, deciding on a cover story for buying three identical masks as he went. “Alright you two, we’re getting stuff in for a fancy dress party if anyone asks, which they more than likely won’t.” Michael and Gavin nodded like children, excited at the prospect of getting to pick out masks and the general danger of the heist. It was nice to see them so enthusiastic, Geoff just hoped that it didn’t come around to bite him in the ass further down the line.

By the time they had parked up and walked around to the mask shop it was late afternoon and the sun was getting low in the sky, casting a reddish glow across the water and making the heat haze rising from the pavement all the more obvious. Geoff was boiling in his suit and pulled his jacket off, leaving it in the car but refusing to relinquish his dickie bow despite the sweltering summer heat. Walking beside Michael and Gavin he was struck by how they interacted; bashing into each other as they walked side by side and chasing each other down the beach front, shouting as they went. They reminded him of Jack and himself, when they had first begun their ‘heisting’ as Jack called it. Meeting up with the pair at the shop Geoff trawled through the shelves, watching as Michael pounced on Gavin wearing a monkey mask making the other jump out of his skin before laughing. 

They finally settled on various putrified zombie faces in different shades before calling it a day and heading back to the warehouse. By the time they got back Jack had already got one of the Sanchez’s in the workshop and half dismantled and Geoff took a second to marvel at how fast she managed to get things done before heading back upstairs with the boys to work on their plan of attack.

“Alright kids, settle down, let’s get this shit all sorted out so you guys can go munk off in a corner together.”

“Geoff!-“ Gavin’s indignant objection was cut off quickly by Michael, his tone laced with sarcasm.

“Don’t deny it Gavin, you want me, let’s get this over with so we can go bang.”

Chuckling, Geoff moved over to the board, “Okay so we’re gonna be Alpha Team; I’m Alpha One, Michael you’re Two, Gavin you’re Three — simple. Jack and Ryan are Bravo Team and Ray is Overlord but we’ll go over that again when they’re here.” Pointing out on the map the direction that they were going to enter the store from Geoff continued, “We’re going to keep it simple; we’ll go in with concealed SMG’s but we’ll try to keep in non-lethal so stun guns as our primaries, we take out the guards as quickly as possible so if Ryan’s right then you can take one each and I’ll take the teller. We cuff them with zip ties while Ryan takes the alarms down and then grab all the goods in duffel bags. They’ll probably have a safe in back but we’re not going to bother with that, it’d be too much work and we want to be in and out as fast as we can — we take what we can see and no more.”

“Sounds good to me, Geoffy.” Jack wandered over, grease smeared all over her face and hands from where she had been working on the bike, and sat down at the table with a sigh, “What do we do if they have safety glass, want to take a cutter just in case?”

Adding it to the board, Geoff flashed Jack a smile. Unbeknownst to him Gavin and Michael shared a look before standing to leave with an acknowledgement of their duties.

“You guys heading back to your place or do you want to use the beds here?”

Both Michael and Gavin answered the same, “You have beds here?”

Jack laughed, “We put a bunk room in after I fell asleep downstairs working. Geoff never stops nagging.”

Politely declining they both agreed that they would go back to Michaels and probably get so drunk that their brains pickled in celebration of the heist. Geoff and Jack bid them farewell with a laugh before returning downstairs, Geoff accompanying Jack with her work on the bikes. Sitting across from her and leaning back against one of the shelving units, he let out a sigh.

“Do me a favour, Geoff? Pass me a seventeen millimetre spanner?”

Handing over the tool, Geoff took in the almost entirely stripped bike.

“So, what are you doing?”

After a few seconds digging into the engine of the bike Jack leaned back and swiped a hand across her forehead, leaving yet another smear of grease across her face, “Not too much, we want to keep it cost effective after all. I’m gonna sort the suspension and swap out the shocks for some that I’ve got laying around, probably fix up the transmission so you get away a bit quicker but they’re solid bikes as is so there isn’t too much to do.”

Geoff nodded, not even pretending that he knew what she was talking about. Jack was the go-to member of their little gang for anything to do with vehicles — especially considering that Geoff was completely clueless — and fixed everything up for their heisting. 

"The other two bikes should get here tomorrow so I'll start work on them then."

"Alright well there's fuck all else we can do tonight and I'm not feeling the drive home so I'm just gonna go crash upstairs. You better go to fucking bed, Jack." All Geoff received in response was a crudely raised middle finger and a grin as he made his way upstairs into the bunk room and collapsed onto the first bed that he saw.

* * *

The next day he was woken early by the sound of footsteps on the metal stairs and quickly pulled himself from the bed, making sure that everything was in order before the door to the bunk room burst open.

“Morning Geoff!”

Growling at Michael, Gavin and their tandem greeting Geoff pushed past them into the office where everyone else was assembled. With a sigh, he fell into the chair at the head of the table.

“Okay, where are we at with everything. I know the first bike is going well,” He flashed Jack a look, “Judging by the fact that you failed to make it to bed, yet again. What’s the status on the other two? And how are the alarms looking, Ryan?”

“The other two bikes should be here later today and I’ll fix them all up the same. I think I’ve got a van lined up but we’ll have to wait and see on that one, it shouldn't take too long to figure out if it’ll be good for us or not.”

Geoff nodded and turned his gaze to Ryan, who was slouched in his chair tapping away on a tablet.

“I was working on the alarms all night and got a programme worked up that’ll block the silent alarm and take down all of the security cameras and perimeter trips but it can only give us ten minutes so I’m gonna have to work on extending that, just to give us a bigger safety window so you guys can get out.”

“I’d like to aim to be out in five minutes if that’s possible, that way we have an extra five minutes just in case something goes wrong and you can’t get us any more time.” Michael looked to Geoff who nodded his agreement with the man and looked back towards the board.

“With the size of the shop, if we work efficiently, that shouldn't be a problem. We need to move systematically. I’ll take the middle, Michael you can take the left and Gavin the right, that should make it easier in terms of grabbing as much as we can. We also need to take cutters, just in case it’s laminated glass. Jack and Ryan; you guys are Bravo Team, Jack is Bravo One, Ryan is Two. Ray; you’re Overlord, just don’t get any idea. Team Nice Dynamite and I are Alpha Team.”

Gavin sniggered, “Michael’s Alpha shit.”

“Shut the fuck up Gavin, you moron. Geoff’s Alpha One, I’m Two and Gavin is Three.”

Ray huffed a laugh as he realised what Gavin had meant by Alpha shit but the room soon quietened down as Geoff called for order.

“Honestly, I can’t think of anything else right now, but fuck it if I need to tell you guys anything I’ll call you. Ray, Michael, Gavin; get yourselves ready for a road trip, we’re going to case the joint.”

There was a pause as Michael waited for the inevitable, it was a surprise to him when Ray made the joke rather than Gavin, sniggering “Buttfuck it.”

“Hold on a second, Geoff, I’ve got something for you.” Pulling a pair of glasses from his pocket, Ryan handed them to Geoff and explained what they were for, “I’m pretty sure I have all the security covered but as you’re going to be in there I don’t see that there’s any harm in having a look around. These have a tiny HD camera and microphone in the arms so don't bend them or anything, that way I can watch from here. Also, earpiece, I promise not to make you laugh like a lunatic at random times.”

Geoff nodded and virtually ignored Ryan’s evil smirk, it was a good idea, except for one thing, “Jack, while you’re waiting for the other two bikes I want you watching too — two sets of eyes are always better than one.”

And with that they were gone, Geoff straightening his dickie bow as they left. The drive to Vangelico’s was a long one and by the time they arrived around the block so that they could all scope it out separately he was about ready to throttle Michael and Gavin, who had been fighting over the music since they first climbed into the car.

Leaving Ray to find a nesting spot on the rooftops around and Michael and Gavin to do whatever the fuck they were going to do, probably scope out the tunnel and dry run the route from the store in the car, Geoff headed inside Vangelico’s. Looking around as inconspicuously as he could he made his way to the counter, thinking something up as he went.

“Hello there, can I help you?”

The teller was bright and bubbly and Geoff smiled naturally, slipping into his ‘I actually like people’ skin as he moved closer.

“Yeah, I’m looking for something pretty special.”

“For your partner?”

Suppressing a laugh, Geoff nodded, “It’s our ten year anniversary in two weeks and I’ve been looking everywhere for something.”

The teller nodded and disappeared, a smile on her face.

“Geoff…” the surprise in Jack’s voice was evident and he smiled fondly as he continued to look around the store, “How did you remember that? You can’t even remember how to tie your shoes half the time.”

“I’m just good, Jack. Now, if you guys have everything then give me a call so I can get the fuck out of here.”

Ryan obliged him, his phone ringing just as the Teller came back. Making his excuses he beat a hasty retreat and rendezvoused with Ray before Michael and Gavin pulled up, giving him a thumbs up before climbing from the car and allowing him to drive them back to the warehouse. By the time they walked in the sun had well and truly set and there were three bikes sitting in the workshop, all but one of them finished and sprayed black.

Handing Ryan back his glasses, Geoff turned to Jack, “What’s the status on that van?”

“It’ll be here in a couple of hours, he said before midnight so it’ll probably be here around one. When do you want to do this thing?”

Geoff paused to think, “A morning is probably best but tomorrow is far too soon. Let’s say Heist begins in 34 hours, that would make it 7am. So everyone needs to be here for… 6am the day after tomorrow?”

Jack nodded in agreement and Geoff grinned. It was almost time.

Making sure that everybody knew exactly when they would have to be ready and at the warehouse, Geoff decided it would be best to just let everyone go home, after all there was only so much he could do to make sure everyone was ready and everything he could do had already been done. With all of the preparation finished they all retired to ready themselves for the final job; Gavin and Michael returned to Michael’s apartment to finally get blind drunk — thankfully Geoff had given them a day to recover or more likely continue drinking, Ryan and Ray opted to stay at Ray’s apartment as it was closer to the warehouse than Ryan’s place in Blaine County and Geoff and Jack stayed at the warehouse, with Geoff passed out in one of the beds upstairs while Jack continued to work late into the night.

* * *

Crashing onto Michael's couch with a beer he and Gavin talked through their parts in the upcoming heist, laying out all their concerns and figuring out ways around them before simply focussing on getting as drunk as they possibly could. It was a typical lads night and no different to their preparations for every job, playing video games and watching shitty episodes of Impotent Rage, but something seemed different. Whether it was because the score was the biggest they had ever undertaken or simply pre-job nerves the atmosphere seemed more tense than usual to Gavin. 

"Alright Micoo, spit it out, what's wrong?"

"What?"

Putting down his controller and turning to his curly haired friend Gavin let out a sigh, trying to figure out what he was going to say and avoid slurring as much as possible in his highly inebriated state, "You've been off all day, B. I'm worried about you."

Michael frowned but then shook his head, "It's nothing, Gav. Now, pick up your fucking controller so I can win, already!”

Gavin contemplated it for a second, just picking up his controller and ignoring the tension he felt, discounting the fact that something was clearly wrong and just going back to business as usual. It didn't take him long to realise that he couldn't — things had been different for a while and Gavin was getting sick of it, it wasn't a constant thing but it was happening more and more often and it needed fixing if they were going to work together effectively in the future.

“Uh-uh, that’s not gonna work this time. What’s up with you?”

Dropping his own controller, Michael heaved a sigh, “You want to know what’s wrong, Gavin? You know- fuck it, it’d be easier to just show you.”

Gavin had no idea what was happening until he found Michael’s lips pressed to his. His alcohol addled brain took so long to process what was happening that by the time he had fully figured it out Michael had pulled away and was standing to leave the room. By the time he caught up to his irate friend they were in the bedroom and Michael was sitting on the end of his bed with his head in his hands. He had just kissed his best friend and, too caught up in scolding himself for being so stupid, didn’t notice that Gavin had followed until he felt the mattress sink down beside him.

“Michael…” There was a pause as Gavin attempted to figure out what to say before settling on grabbing Michael’s face in clumsy hands and pressing a shy and sloppy drunken kiss to his lips.

* * *

Dragging himself, albeit reluctantly, from his bed Geoff looked around and took note of the fact that Jack was not present in any of the others before making his way down to the workshop. Sure enough Jack was where Geoff had left her the night before, asleep across the seat of the final bike with a wrench hanging loosely from her hand after spending the majority of their free day finishing up the work. Geoff contemplated waking her but decided to leave her to slumber and whine at her later, instead he walked into the kitchen area and set some coffee to brew before falling into one of the many chairs laying around. Pouring himself a cup of coffee he stepped outside and took a deep breath of the city air, the sun was warm despite it only being around five-thirty in the morning and Geoff took full advantage of the peace and quiet. He heard the squeak of the door behind him but did not turn as Jack moved to stand next to him, her own cup of coffee in hand.

Glancing over at Geoff Jack took a second to appreciate her friends profile, the sun shining through his long eyelashes and picking out the individual shades in his messy morning hair. He glanced at her and grinned before returning to looking out across the bay towards the Pacific. Los Santos really was a pretty place, even with all of the crime, corruption, pollution and destruction that was a daily occurrence.

Inevitably the peace and quiet was soon shattered as the Double-Oh-Mogar rolled up and Gavin fell out, complaining about Michael's driving but looking mighty pleased with himself if a little green. Geoff knew what had happened to cause Gavin's glee almost instantly.

"You know guys, I was only joking about munking off in a corner together."

Gavin and Michael's almost simultaneous blush was all the confirmation that he needed. He was on the verge of letting out a sigh when he stopped himself, who was he to judge what they did, as long as it didn’t impact on the heist then he had no problem with it. He told them as much as they waited for Ray and Ryan to arrive. When he saw Ryan’s Dundreary pulling up he couldn't help but laugh as Ray stepped from the passenger side.

“Not you guys too.”

Ray looked around confused but nodded knowingly when he saw Michael and Gavin leaning against the railing, virtually glued together from top to toe as they giggled between themselves. 

“Really? You couldn't keep it in your pants until after the job?” Ray sniggered.

All he received in response was a less than appropriate hand gesture over Michael’s shoulder as he and Gavin went into the warehouse.

“Rude!”

By the time the laughter had died down and they were all sat around the table in the office the gravity of the situation began to sink in — all their planning over the last few days had lead up to this. Despite the inevitable pre-job nerves, everybody looked ready which eased Geoff’s nerves exponentially.

“Okay lads, gents… it’s time. I hope you’re fucking ready, I don’t particularly want anything to go wrong here.”

All he received in response was a table full of set expressions, which was all the response he needed.

“Alright. Alpha; suit up. Bravo and Overlord; do what you do best.”


	2. The Jewel Heist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you feel like it, listen to [THIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hugUCUPpv4) while you read this chapter. It's from the GTA Soundtrack and fits pretty well, I wrote the whole chapter to this song.
> 
> I also edited it to cut off the aftermath, which I'm going to add as chapter 3. Sorry if you've already read it, I'm expanding it so it'll be better when you get to read it again.

Pulling up outside the store on his Sanchez Geoff couldn’t deny that his gut twisted with nerves and adrenaline, but rather than let himself fall to pieces he channeled the adrenaline, sharpening his sense to the point that he was acutely aware of the slightest sound as they stepped up to the store. Ryan’s voice soon echoed in all of their earpieces, informing them that the alarms were disabled and that they should move as quickly as possible and Geoff tensed almost instantly. Stepping through the door he gestured to Michael and Gavin to incapacitate the security moving to intercept them before levelling his own stun gun on the clerk. It was the same woman that had served him before and he took a second to feel sorry for her as Ryan informed him that she had tripped the silent alarm. Nobody was coming to save her this time, but at least she would live through it. Shooting her, he caught her as she fell and lowered her to the ground before turning his attention to the counter before him.

Busting through the glass easily Geoff thanked every deity that he could think of for not having to use the finicky cutter and began to fill the duffel bag thrown across his front. Jogging around the store the three of them managed to clear it out faster than any of them thought possible, but it was still too slow as they heard sirens approaching from outside. Geoff cursed, not taking the time to think about how the cops found out before he grabbed Gavin and Michael by their collars and tossed them out of the door. Climbing onto the bikes as fast as they could they made their getaway, weaving through lanes of traffic in an attempt to loose the police that were now attempting to cut them off. Police response in Liberty City was phenomenal and soon they were being followed by at least five cars, each of them weaving to cut them off. 

Pulling out his Micro SMG, Geoff began to shoot at the engine blocks of oncoming police cars, hoping to incapacitate them and cause the trio less problems — the last thing they needed was a murder charge on top of armed robbery and he was easily the most accurate when it came to weapons. Stopping at least four of their pursuers in their tracks Geoff grinned, darting into the tunnel behind Michael.

Gavin took a second to be thankful that the police hadn’t started shooting back yet as they made their way into the tunnel which lead to the river, he must have cursed it though as a bullet caught his back tyre and he skidded into a pile of bricks, flying across his handlebars. Somewhere in the distance he heard Michael shouting, his voice panicked, but all he could focus on was getting back on his feet. If he couldn't run, he was screwed.

“Fuck, Three’s down, Alpha Three is down. We have to get him!” Michael was frantic as he kept glancing over his shoulder, thankful to see Gavin beginning to stand. He skidded to a halt but Geoff shouted for him to keep going and make the rendezvous.

“Don’t you fucking dare slow down, Alpha Two. I’ll get Three, you just get to that fucking van!”

Growling angrily, Michael barked a “Roger that.” before continuing the run down to the LS River. Fear twisted in his gut and he realised that it was all for Gavin, the man had taken quite a tumble and Michael was more worried for him than he had ever been. Reaching the van he watched the mouth of the tunnel, silently begging everything he could think of that Geoff and Gavin made it out of there alive and unhurt.

After sending Michael ahead, Geoff doubled back as quickly as he could, shouting to the Brit to get on his fucking bike or heaven forbid the police wouldn't have to shoot him because Geoff would do their job for them. Gavin struggled for a second but complied, squeezing onto the back of the Sanchez and threading his arms around Geoff’s waist. The ride out of the tunnel was traumatic for them both as they dodged bullets and random debris in an attempt to get to the van. On one occasion Geoff actually managed to jump a piece of pipe that appeared before him, cursing as they landed heavily but unharmed. The tunnel continued to wind lower and lower towards the river, the twists meaning that they couldn’t see the end until they were virtually out, the sunlight breaking across them as they skidded into the river bed. It was really just an aqueduct but that wasn’t the point, Geoff had never been so glad to see the dirty water that flowed down the centre and seeing the van in the distance, let out a whoop of joy.

“You okay buddy?”

He glanced to look at Gavin who gave a small nod. The adrenaline was keeping him from feeling any pain at that moment but no doubt he would be in agony later, however that didn’t detract from the fact that he could now see the back of the van, open and waiting for them. He had never been so glad to see a shitty removal van in all his life.

Geoff drove up the ramp as quickly as he dared, stopping with a jolt and jumping off to pull the doors shut behind them as Michael worked on securing Geoff’s bike down. Slamming on the bulkhead, Geoff indicated that they were ready to go and Jack set off. They were almost free and clear. Quickly pulling off their black overalls to reveal their everyday clothes and dropping their masks on top of their discarded clothes they checked that they still had all three bags before sitting down for the ride. None of them could help the grins that spread across their lips; they had done it, they had successfully escaped with one of their biggest hauls ever.

“Overlord, this is Alpha One.”

Ray’s voice came over the line quickly, “Go ahead, Alpha One.”

“You’re cleared to get out of there. We’re with Bravo One. Good work with the alarms, Bravo Two, we’ll see you soon.”

Various affirmatives came across the radio and the sound of sirens faded into the background. As the adrenaline began to wear off Gavin groaned in pain, rubbing his chest as a stabbing pain erupted across his ribcage. Sighing, Geoff ordered the scrawny Brit to lift up his shirt and began to feel his ribs. Shaking his head, Geoff delivered his diagnosis.

“You’ve got a broken rib or two, nothing major. We’ll get you patched up when we get back, you should be fine.”

Waiting for Geoff to move away, Michael moved over to Gavin and punched him in the arm, “Don’t fucking scare me like that again, you asshole.”

Gavin grinned, despite wincing, “Don’t worry, Michael, I won’t.”

They began to bicker about Gavin’s pronunciation of Michael’s name and Geoff simply laughed, indulging them until the van pulled to a stop and the back doors opened, revealing Jack’s beaming grin.

“Nicely done, Alpha Team. Let’s get this stuff squared away so we can go home and celebrate.”

Ray pulled up moments later, driving a brown dune buggy of sorts, and walked over to Geoff. Taking the bags, Ray assured Geoff that he would have the revenue soon and that he was going to meet up with Ryan the next day to figure everything out but for that moment he would just leave the goods in a safe at his personal lock-up. Nodding and offering his thanks, Geoff gestured for everyone to pile into Ryan’s Dundreary which had been left for them at the drop off and they returned to the warehouse, gleeful as they could be.


	3. Aftermath

With his ribs wrapped firmly in bandages, Gavin lounged on Michael’s couch doing absolutely nothing. It was blissful. They had celebrated late into the previous night and now his ribs weren’t the only thing feeling tender but the sun was streaming through the window and Michael was sat beside him acting as a rather appealing cushion and Gavin couldn’t have been happier. They had as much time as they wanted to just relax and play shitty video games and talk about absolutely nothing. Feeling Michael’s hand snake around his waist to rest just below the bandages Gavin sighed contently; they were looking to come into a shit load of money soon, the sun was shining and they had finally come to terms with the fact that they both wanted to bang… life was good.

“Hey Gav, you ever think about what we’re gonna do when we’re like Geoff’s age and can’t do this shit anymore?”

Despite being one of the least violent armed robbers in all of history Gavin relished the challenge of the jobs they undertook, the adrenaline that came with the risk. It wasn’t even the money that drew him to it, more the sheer thrill of being able to do something highly illegal and do it well. He didn’t even want to entertain the thought of not being able to do it anymore, despite his injuries, “Nah, Geoff’s still going strong. I think we’ve got a few more years in us yet, boi.”

Michael laughed, admiring his friends optimism. His friend... Somehow that didn't sound right anymore, not after everything they'd been through together. Gavin was more like his partner in all senses of the word; they did everything together, they'd seen each other through tough times and had come out of it stronger and richer than before.

"You remember how we met, _Mi_ chael?”

Rolling his eyes at Gavin's accent, Michael nodded, "It was that fucking convenience store by Vespucci Beach, right? I found you trying to rob the place but all you had was a fucking knife and the guy wasn't taking you seriously."

Michael couldn't help but snigger as he remembered a teenage Gavin, all gangly limbs and confusion, his mask on wonky and his stupid accent making him seem like the most useless criminal in the world. He was totally hopeless until Michael walked in.

> It was a hot day in Los Santos and Gavin was bored to the point of distraction, there was nothing for a friendless teenager to do in a city of posers and fakers that held his interest and so he found himself stood outside a convenience store with a mask held loosely in his hand. He had been thinking about it for a while, robbing the place, but had never plucked up the courage. Now, with the blood pounding in his ears and his heart in his mouth, he put the mask on and stepped inside.
> 
> Holding up a knife he tried his best to seem aggressive and confident, failing miserably, “Put the money in a bag, and nobody’ll get hurt, alright?”
> 
> The store clerk was having none of it, simply scoffing at Gavin, “Fuck off, kid. I won’t call the cops this time.”
> 
> Feeling indecision pool deep in his gut he was almost ready to do as the man said, turn around and walk away, until he caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye.
> 
> “What the fuck is going on here?”
> 
> The brash and harshly accented voice belonged to a man in a leather jacket, a pistol held in his right hand as naturally as if it had been there for years. Who knew, in Los Santos it could have been, anything was possible in the city that didn’t know what boundaries were and pretty much spat on everything the rest of the world considered the rule of law.
> 
> “Are you robbing this place with a fucking knife?”
> 
> The shop clerk shrugged as if to say, ‘thugs these days’ but was soon held in check as a pistol was levelled at his chest. 
> 
> “Alright, put the money in a fucking bag and I won’t shoot you. You, you stupid fuck…” He levelled his gaze at Gavin, confused by his ridiculous accent and even more ridiculous clothing, and simply sighed, “You’d better come with me.”
> 
> With a bag of money stuffed in Michael’s jacket they ran from the store and down to the beach, hiding in the stilts under one of the houses until they were sure the coast was clear before moving out to sit on the sand.
> 
> “Thanks for that, I had no idea what I was doing.” Gavin looked to the man beside him, neither of them had removed their masks yet to preserve their safety but Michael was pretty sure he was in no danger from Gavin and felt no desire to shoot the gangly idiot, no matter how stupid he had been.
> 
> “You fucking idiot, I could’ve shot you. You’re fucking lucky I’m not a total psycho.”
> 
> Gavin nodded, dropping down in the sand and looking out at the sea.
> 
> “So… You come here often?”
> 
> Michael laughed, “If you mean am I a career criminal who makes it his life’s work to rob shitty convenience stores then no, I don’t come here often.”
> 
> There was a pause as they listened to the waves lap at the shore, the Pacific Coastal Highway a constant buzz behind them.
> 
> “So, why’d you do it?”
> 
> Thinking for a second, Michael shrugged, “Just wanted to do something fun. You?”
> 
> “Same.”

They had been friends ever since, ditching the masks soon after and using Michael’s hard earned cash to get drunk. It took a long time for them to truly trust each other but when they did they became inseparable and Michael couldn’t help but remember the gangly boy in the purple shirt and khakis that he had come across all of those years ago fondly. “Did you ever think we’d make it this far, Gav?” Gavin moved slowly to look around at Michael, a grin on his face, “Of course I did, I know everything you silly sausage.” “Maybe, but you still can’t rob a convenience store for shit.” 

* * *

In the first days after the job Ryan and Ray had decided, once again, to head to Ray's apartment over Ryan's place as they worked out the final total for the haul from their three contacts. Along with the final number came a warning; one of Ray's contacts seemed to know exactly where all of the goods had come from and warned them away from that area, claiming that there was another gang operating around there that would not take kindly to their presence. Too jubilant as they realised that the final figure was more than they could have hoped, Ray resolved to tell Geoff about the warning but did not let it worry him at all. Instead, he let himself enjoy the time he had with his friend; it wasn’t often that they saw each other because of Ryan living in Blaine County — Ray was quite frankly terrified to leave the city boundaries after some of the things he had heard about the North of San Andreas — and it was aways nice to spend time with the charming if strange man. 

“You should really come up sometime, Ray. I got a cow, his name’s Edgar.”

Ray paused, waiting to see if his friend was joking before voicing his confusion, “You got a cow?”

“Well, he’s a calf but yeah. I found some hillbilly crackheads trying to cook him but I managed to get him out of there.” Ryan’s grin was infectious and Ray couldn’t help but laugh. His friend was strange for sure but Ray wouldn’t change the man for the world.

“So, did rescuing this cow include killing a bunch of yokels?”

Ryan let the silence linger for a moment before shrugging, “They deserved it.”

“Holy shit, Ryan.” Despite the news that his friend had killed people to save a cow… a _cow_ , Ray couldn’t stop laughing. Wiping a tear from his eye and readjusting his glasses, he gasped for breath, “Only you, buddy, jeez.”

“So, is that a yes?” There was a hopeful gleam in Ryan’s eye as Ray looked at him, confused.

“Huh?”

“You’ll come meet Edgar?”

Laughing once again at his friend’s persistence, Ray nodded, “Fuck it, why not, I mean YOLO right?”

They spend the next few days at Ray’s apartment, Ryan sleeping on his couch while they waited for the money to clear from the job. With the cut for their contacts they were set to come out with a cool two million dollars each, more than enough to set them up for a while until the heat had died down and they had found another target. Wiring the funds to the rest of the group Ray proceeded to pack a bag and climb into the passenger seat of Ryan’s Dundreary, that he so affectionately called the Action Wagon, and take a trip out of Downtown Los Santos for the first time. It went against his better judgement in every way but he was with Ryan, and for some reason that made him feel oddly safe; his friend had never let anything happen to him before, why should he now. Gazing out of the window as the city began to slip away and transform into suburbs, which shifted into beach and eventually desert, Ray marvelled at the differences just a few miles could make. His place was, at most, ten miles from Ryan’s and yet the surrounding areas were so completely different and he found himself enjoying the change of scenery. There was only so much of the city that one person could take in without its charm wearing off, but this place was completely new to Ray and the dusty roads made him smile as he thought of being able to spend some time away from the city.

When they arrived at Ryan’s place Ray was surprised to find that it was huge, with a decked front porch and large sash windows. Around the back was a small paddock filled with what could only be described as desert grass, and this was where Ryan went first.

“Hey, Edgar.” Opening the gate, Ryan stepped in and allowed Ray to follow before closing the gate behind him. Ray stood back as Edgar ran towards Ryan on rickety legs and Ryan crouched down, grabbing a handful of grass and offering it to the calf. It was tiny, and Ray had to admit it was pretty cute.

Settling in at Ryan’s didn’t take long at all and before he knew it Ray was helping out with odd-jobs as Ryan attempted to turn his house into a ranch. He had never spent so much time outside, nor had he ever been quite so comfortable around another person as he was Ryan; they seemed to fit together perfectly, their personalities a perfect mix of optimism and creepiness to keep them entertained through the long summer months. Ryan was equally as happy with the arrangement, finally overcoming the loneliness of the desert with Ray’s company. He had always found the younger man to be a good friend but as he spent day after day with him Ryan’s feelings for Ray began to transform into something completely different that, to be perfectly honest, terrified him. Yet, despite the fear, it was exhilarating; his heart would pound every time he brushed against his friend in their work and he couldn't help but smile every time Ray did, his mood lifted by his friend’s happiness. Eventually though it came time for him to go home. The drive back into the city was one of the worst they had ever taken. The total silence was only broken when Ray climbed from the car and walked around to the driver’s side, tapping on the window repeatedly until Ryan relented and rolled it down.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”

Ryan was powerless to stop what happened next, not that he would have ever wanted to. Ray leaned down and rested against the door, reaching in to press his lips to Ryan’s quickly before flashing him a smirk and walking away. The block’s walk to his apartment was a quiet one, broken only by the sound of sirens which Ray paid no attention to, after all they were a common occurrence in Los Santos. It wasn’t like they were for him.

Ryan was half way home when he received a call from Geoff. The Action Wagon wasn’t made for speed but the way Ryan drove at that moment, it may as well have been an Adder.

* * *

Geoff was beaming as he closed his pre-pay and tossed it back onto Jack's couch. Jack returned from the kitchen with two beers and saw the expression on his face, "What's tickled you?"

"Ray's got a total for us..." Pausing for dramatic effect, Geoff continued to grin, "Two million... Each.”

It took a few moments for Jack to compute the figure she was being given and accept that she would soon be receiving it, and even when she did all she could muster was a muttered, “Holy shit.”

“Yeah. He also said some shit about another gang that works around the Strip but I figure that’s nothing we need to worry about right now.” Settling back down on Jack’s couch they took some time to joke around about what they would do with the money and soon forgot about Ray’s warning. The whole group was still jubilant from their success and the last thing that they needed was something that might not even be a problem bringing them down.

“It’s strange isn’t it, a couple of years ago we were still working over convenience stores, now we’re waiting for two million dollars to drop into our accounts.” Jack grinned, “It makes a nice change, buddy.”

> Their first big job was one of the strangest things they had ever done, having to call in help on something that could potentially get them serious jail time was not something they were accustomed to and yet here they were waiting for two people to arrive who were going to help them bust into a bank vault. Granted it was a backwards country bank in Blaine County that an old friend had tipped Geoff off about but the point remained that they were going to have to work harder than they ever had before. 
> 
> When their help arrived Geoff was skeptical, seeing a gangly guy in khaki shorts almost fall out of the car that pulled up. Sticking his hand out, the man introduced himself as Gavin and his friend with the curly hair as Michael. He couldn’t say that the pair filled him with confidence at that moment but he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, having been put in touch with them by someone that he trusted, and so they moved inside to plan the heist. 
> 
> By the time the planning and preparation was over he was sure he had made the right choice in Gavin and Michael, they were both experts in hands on action as well as tactically assessing a situation and had helped with the preparation far more than he had assumed they would, contributing to the plan with ease. By the time they were ready they had all spent a week together; Jack had armoured their car and made sure it was the fastest thing for miles, Geoff had worked over the security systems with his Blaine County friend and arranged to meet him before the job so he could tag along, and Michael and Gavin… well they had been raising hell. In order to reduce the police presence around the bank they had been tasked with causing disturbances across the city and making sure that the police were distracted by their crime spree, and Geoff had to admit that they had done a fantastic job, there was nothing on the police scanners but them.
> 
> When they finally got to Blaine County and picked up the elusive mystery that was Ryan they readied themselves for the biggest job of their lives. Needless to say, it went off without a hitch. Geoff and Ryan grabbed the money, Jack defended the vehicle and Michael and Gavin ran damage control in the surrounding area, taking out police vehicles and trying their hardest to avoid any serious injury.
> 
> They got away with a half million each after their expenses and the sense of adulation in the car was palpable as they made their getaway. Geoff’s jobs had never been the same since.

“I’m glad things changed. I just hope it doesn’t end up biting us in the ass.”

Geoff chuckled, “Don’t panic, Jack. We’ll be fine.”

* * *

In an old Police precinct in Downtown Los Santos Miles Luna sat at his desk examining a file that his boss had thrown at him not moments before. A jewellery store had been robbed and Miles was expected to catch the culprits, except that the file was totally empty. There was nothing on the guys who had completed the job, except a couple of handwritten eyewitness accounts stating that they escaped on three identical motorbikes and wore grotesque zombie masks. It wasn’t much to go on at all and Miles couldn’t help but let his head fall into his hands. Yet another unsolvable case dumped in his hands, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

“You okay, Luna?”

Jerking his head up to see his partner approaching his desk, he forced a smile onto his face.

“Yeah, Kerry. What’re you doing here so late?”

It was around eight at night, typically Kerry was at home for seven on a week day and yet here he was, carrying two coffees with a smirk on his face.

“Burnie called me in, something about a jewellery store job that you needed help on.”

Scoffing, Miles nodded, “It’s another one of his ridiculous ‘better dump this one on Luna’ cases. We’ve got literally nothing to go on and Burnie’s expecting me to pull it out of my ass like some kind of magic trick.”

Kerry chuckled, “Go home, Miles. I’ll work on this for a while and see what I can dig up and we can get the girls in on it tomorrow.”

Nodding reluctantly, Miles packed up his things and made his way home. He slept like a rock that night and, by the time the morning rolled around he had all but forgotten about how hopeless his new case was. Stopping to pick up coffee for his team on the way in Miles whistled happily as he walked into the office, dancing around the desks to place a coffee in front of everyone.

“Jeez, Kerry, you look awful.”

“Why thank you, Miles, for your astute observation. I found something about that jewellery store job, and you’re not gonna like it.” There were dark circles under Kerry’s eyes and it was clear that he had been in the office all night, Miles knew the look well enough and had even seen it on himself — more times than he cared to count.

“Hit me.” Miles fell into his chair opposite Kerry, taking a sip of coffee and regretting it instantly as it scolded the roof of his mouth. His ridiculous noises and wafting gestures stopped, however, when he heard what Kerry had to say next.

“It’s pretty well known that a gang operates in that area; we’ve bagged a few of them and have more of them on the watch list, but it wasn’t them. Someone stepped on their toes, Miles. We could have a gang war on our hands if we’re not careful.”

Miles Luna wasn’t particularly prone to coarse language but there was only one thing he could think of to say that would sum up the situation at that point, “Well shit.”

As the months passed with nothing more surfacing on the Vangelico’s crew Miles began to give up hope. He would usually be thankful when Burnie promised reassignment but now, with his one week deadline to find something — _anything_ — before he was pulled off the case he found himself wishing for just a little bit more time. He didn’t like leaving a case unsolved, no matter what it was; it would chip away at him in the back of his head until he couldn’t take it anymore. The last thing he needed was another one of those, which is why he was needlessly happy when an apartment fire landed on the desk of one of his colleagues.

“Lindsay, bring that file over here. It’s an apartment near Vangelico’s right.”

Flicking through the file with Lindsay hanging over his shoulder he nodded to himself, this was what he had been looking for. Grabbing his things and his car keys he pulled Lindsay along with him to the parking lot, throwing his car into drive eagerly. Pulling up outside the apartment, his suspicions were confirmed; Kerry had been right, there was a gang war on the horizon. Running his fingers along the orange paint scrawled across the front door of the complex, Miles sighed. Gang wars could be messy things, it was a miracle that nobody was hurt in the fire and this was only the beginning.

Pulling out his phone he began a conference call with Kerry and Barbra, Lindsay’s partner, putting the phone on speaker, “Guys, I’ve got some bad news. Kerry was right, this is a gang related incident. We need to look into who lived in that apartment, it’ll probably be under an alias if it was a gang target but maybe we can get security camera footage of whoever it is and narrow it down. He could be a member of our Vangelico’s crew, we need to get our hands on him fast.”

With various acknowledgements of what they had to do Kerry and Barbra ended the call and began to work while Miles drove back to the precinct. It was time to talk to Burnie.


	4. Comfort

Taking their respective breaks the members of the Vangelico’s gang fell out of contact after the job. It was a few months before Geoff heard from Ray again, and it was with some grave news.

“Some fucker burnt out my apartment, Geoff!”

“Woah, slow down, how do you mean burnt out your apartment?”

Geoff was where he usually was, sat on Jack’s couch with a beer, when his pre-pay rang. Suspicious, but figuring that it must be important, he had answered to find a flustered Ray on the other end.

“I mean that my apartment is on fucking fire! What else do you think I mean!”

“Do you know who did it?”

Ray sighed, “I have a pretty fucking good idea. I live near Vangelico’s…”

It took a second to click in Geoff’s mind but when it did he was flooded with worry, if Ray was right then everyone involved in the Vangelico’s job could be at risk.

“You think the guys we were warned about did it?”

“Honestly, I can’t think of anyone else it would be. It helps that there was a fucking gang sign sprayed on my complex door.”

Silence enveloped the conversation as Geoff attempted to figure out what he was going to do.

“Shit. Can you get to the warehouse?”

“Already on my way.”

Geoff leapt from the couch and grabbed his keys, closing the phone without saying anything and racing out to his minivan. He needed to get to the warehouse, and fast. Grabbing Jack before she could say anything, he jumped into the car and threw it into drive. Jack had never seen him move so fast, assuming that something was wrong she didn’t question it when she was tossed into the car and instead buckled up for one of Geoff’s insane drives that he was well known for.

By the time they reached the warehouse Jack’s face was as green as her jeans but as soon as she saw Ray stood outside she forgot about her own problems. His face was streaked with soot, tear tracks cutting through the muck as he sat on the front steps of the warehouse. He scrubbed at his face when he saw his fellows walking towards him, attempting to rid himself of any sign of weakness. It didn’t work as well as he had hoped it would, the overwhelming feeling of weakness remaining to claw at his gut as he greeted his friends.

“What the fuck happened?”

Ray proceeded to explain that he had been at Ryan’s since the job and had just come home, walking around the block to find his apartment ablaze. He had rushed in to grab his pre-pay and his emergency duffel bag but recovered little else. By the time the emergency services got there he was long gone, he had the place under an alias anyway and there was no way that he was going to let anyone know where he was going after what had happened. Completely at a loss for what to do, he had called Geoff and made his way to the warehouse, unable to think of anywhere safer and unwilling to bother Ryan so soon after he had left.

Geoff nodded, solemn, “There’s a bathroom upstairs, go get yourself cleaned up and I’ll look into this shit, see if I can’t figure out for definite who did it.”

Ray left with little but a nod and Jack turned to Geoff, “The poor kid’s distraught, Geoff. We need to fix this.”

Geoff knew that she was right, if Ray’s theory was correct it was potentially their fault in the first place. “He thinks we stepped on someone’s toes with the Vangelico’s job, see if you can find anything about a gang operating in that area, I’m gonna call everyone else and get them here in the meantime. The priority now is to keep everyone safe.”

* * *

“Gavin, seriously, I’ll give you the whole licence thing but you really need some kind of protective clothing at least. I’m not letting you ride that fucking bike in khaki shorts!”

“But _Mi_ chael!-“

“Shut up, Gavin. I’m just looking for an excuse to get you in bike leathers so do as I fucking say, idiot.”

Gavin laughed, a blush creeping up his neck. “Alright, my boy, I’ll get some. But only because you asked nicely.”

Michael scoffed, grabbing Gavin by the collar and pressing a kiss to his lips. Things escalated quickly and soon Michael was pawing at Gavin’s jeans and cursing the tight material… that was when his pre-pay rang.

“Fucking shit fuck, what the fuck do you want Geoff?”

Michael’s face began to fall further and further as he listened to what Geoff had to say, his heart hammering in his chest as he contemplated the consequences of Geoff’s theories being correct. Gavin looked on in confusion and irritation, which morphed into concern as he saw Michael’s expression go from irritation to worry. As Michael closed the phone and turned to Gavin the Brit knew that something was wrong.

“Micool?”

“Get your shit together, Gav, we’ve gotta go.”

“Go where? Why?”

Michael paused, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Geoff said that we might be in danger. Something happened to Ray, we need to get to the warehouse as soon as we can.”

Gavin nodded resolutely, realising that this wasn’t the time to be inquisitive, and worked on getting a bag together for both of them. He even took the time to toss Michael’s games console in there, not knowing how long they would be gone. While Gavin was getting their things together Michael was emptying his safe into his emergency duffel and collecting his gun from it’s locker, after all it was always better to be safe than sorry. Tossing the bags into the Double-Oh-Mogar Gavin climbed onto his bike and followed Michael from the garage. It was late by the time they left, the bright lights of Los Santos standing in place of the sun and bathing them with multicoloured hues as they drove through the centre of the city. It didn’t take them long to arrive at the warehouse, taking a roundabout route at Geoff’s request, and disembark the vehicles with their bags.

“I’ll grab the gubbins, Michael, go and check on Ray.”

Walking into the warehouse Michael saw Jack and Ray sat at the table in the kitchen area of the downstairs and made his way over, shooting a questioning look at Jack. He was curious, no doubt, but seeing the state that Ray was in the last thing he wanted was to upset the man further. He sat cross-legged in one of the chairs, hugging a cup of coffee and saying nothing. Laying a hand on his shoulder for a second, Michael moved to sit in one of the chairs and wait for Gavin. Ray looked up and flashed him a sad smile before returning his gaze to the cup in his hands. Geoff was nowhere to be seen as Gavin made his way in, their two bags thrown over his shoulders, and fell into the seat beside him. It was silent for a long time, everyone lost in their own thoughts as they contemplated what they had let themselves in for. None of them regretted getting into the Vangelico's job, but that didn't mean that none of them were scared.

Geoff had still not returned when the silence was abruptly shattered.

“Why didn’t you fucking call me?” Ryan burst through the door and grabbed Ray, who had leapt from his chair at the noise, pulling him into a tight hug, “I’ve been worried fucking sick all the way here, Ray. Jesus!”

Ray stood for a second in a stunned silence before wrapping his arms around Ryan, clutching the back of his shirt as if it were a lifeline. Tucking his head under the taller man's chin Ray let out a sigh, "It's all gone, everything. I know it was only stuff and I can replace pretty much everything but... Fuck, it was _my_ stuff."

"At least you're okay. I don't know what I would've done if you'd been hurt." They stood like that for a while, Ryan stroking the hair at the nape of Ray's neck in a soothing motion. Nobody said anything about the intimacy of the gesture, all of them simply seeking to comfort Ray. A short while after Ryan's dramatic entrance Geoff returned, pausing as he saw the pair before shaking his head with a smile; Ray needed comfort right now, and if Ryan was providing it where they couldn’t then Geoff was happy. 

"Alright guys, I've got some pretty shitty news."

None of them really wanted to hear what Geoff had to say, a gut feeling shared by them all telling them it would be a game changer, but resigned themselves to it anyway; none of them were safe, and if what Geoff had learned could help that then they would have to accept it. Pulling away from Ryan but making sure to stay as close as he could Ray looked to Geoff, his eyes sad but no longer dull as they had been before Ryan’s arrival.

“We fucked up. _I_ fucked up. Vangelico’s was someone else’s turf; they’re called RetCon, which is a really shitty SciFi reference for those of you who don’t know, and they’re pretty adept at fucking with people who step on their toes.” Geoff paused, moving to sit down and gesturing for the rest of the guys to do the same, “From what I’ve found out their MO is to set fire to shit, impersonate gang members and basically fuck people over in devious ways. A friend of mine seems to think he’s seen them around before, fucking with one of his buddies. If what Gus says is right, we’re far from out of the woods.”

Geoff sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking around at the people he was happy to call his friends; Gavin and Ray looked terrified, Ryan and Jack shared a stoic expression and Michael just looked angry.

“We can expect to find jobs being completed using out get up, our tactics. These guys get in your head and screw with everything you know. We need to be a cohesive unit and show these fuckers that we won’t be taken lightly. Until they show their faces I want everyone on ultimate mayhem duty; we’re gonna own this city, and nobody’s gonna stop us.”

Despite the fear that was obvious around the table there was a sense of solidarity as they all shared various looks. None of them were ready for a gang war, but it was an occupational hazard and they would defend each other to the end no matter what. In that moment, despite his sadness, with his friends beside him Ray felt invincible. They could fight this, and they would win.

* * *

Sitting on one of the beds in the bunk room after the meeting downstairs, Ray let out a sigh. He wasn’t the type to get involved with groups, least of all the gang-style thing that had developed between the Vangelico’s crew, but at the same time he was glad for the comfort they provided. They were in pretty much the same position as him and, no matter what he told himself, he had a hard time believing that they would ever leave him to fend for himself… especially considering Ryan’s reaction to his apartment being torched.

Just as his thoughts came to Ryan the man himself walked into the empty bunk room, moving to sit beside Ray.

“How’re you doing?” His usually mischievous tone was gone, replaced with such care that Ray almost found himself crumbling again. He wasn’t weak, Ryan just had that effect on him — he made it okay for Ray to feel distraught without being judged. After a second Ray came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be weak, no matter what he felt. The rest of the guys needed him ready, and the last thing he wanted was to let them down.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” 

The strangest thing was that it was the truth, he really was fine. He may have lost pretty much everything he owned, he may have lost his home and everything he’d worked for, but he was still alive and he still had his friends. It was more than he might have been able to say had he not been with Ryan in the days before the fire. Looking to the man still sat beside him he reached out to grasp the hand resting between his knees, holding it loosely and interlacing their fingers. It was intimate but said nothing about commitment, it was simply comfort. Ray continued to tell that to himself as he fell sideways onto the bed, curling in on himself but refusing to let go of Ryan’s hand. Waiting for Ray to settle Ryan soon realised that he would not be getting his hand back any time soon and so kicked his shoes off before curling up behind Ray, his chest pressed to the smaller man’s back. Letting his arm fall across the smaller man’s waist, Ryan settled down for the night. Soon after Ray rolled over, curling into Ryan’s chest as his breathing began to even out. Taking a second to pull the beanie hat from Ray’s head, Ryan watched the smaller man as his features softened with the calmness of sleep. He really was quite cute. Ryan let out a sigh before allowing himself to sleep, safe in the knowledge that Ray was settled.

* * *

It had been two days since Miles had visited the apartment fire and, walking into the office in his usual chipper mood, he moved straight over to Kerry’s desk. Swiping one of the coffee cups there and taking a sip he laid a hand on his partner’s shoulder, “Any news on that CCTV footage, Ker-bear?”

Scoffing at the nickname Kerry looked up at Miles and nodded, “I got a face which matches the phoney ID on the lease, I’m running it through all the databases I could think of right now but as of yet there’s no match. It’s possible we have a ghost on our hands.”

Miles shook his head, examining the blurry CCTV image of the man walking down the apartment complex corridor; he looked young, a light scruff on his chin and glasses resting on his nose, a beanie covering what appeared to be dark hair. He looked fairly generic in terms of height and build but Miles had faith in his team, and any face at all was better than no face, which they had been stuck with only two days previous. This was a starting point for them to work from. 

“Barb! Miles! Get yourselves in here, I need to talk to you.”

The shout from across the office reached Miles and his fair haired co-worker clearly and they fell into step on their way across to Burnie’s antechamber. The small office at the back of the open area that served as the detectives area of the precinct had always belonged to Burnie and he rarely strayed outside of it, preferring to keep to the sidelines and only get involved in cases when it was truly necessary. The fact that he was calling them in boded badly for either them or the case that they were working on. Steeling themselves almost simultaneously, they made their way into Burnie’s office and stood before his desk; Miles in his usual comfortable slouch, Barbra standing a little more smartly but still not meeting the formal standard that they both realistically should have.

“You two are ridiculous.” Burnie sniggered, “Alright. Anything come up on this Vangelico’s case?”

It took a second for Miles to remember that today was his deadline for finding anything to do with the case, he had got caught up in the new clue and completely forgotten that he had to convince Burnie of it’s relevance. Taking a deep breath and preparing for the worst, Miles began his defence.

“We found something that could be linked; there was an apartment fire in the area, it looks like a gang related arson. We pulled the CCTV and found the owner of the apartment entering and leaving just after the fire started, he looked to be carrying a duffel bag. It could be that he’s part of our Vangelico’s crew and the fire was some kind of revenge attack.”

Pausing and turning his gaze to Barb briefly, Miles waited for Burnie’s response. Whatever came out of his bosses mouth in the next couple of seconds would determine whether they actually had a chance to try at solving this case, or whether it would just fade into obscurity until it became nothing but a statistic for another failed investigation, another black mark on their ledger.

“Alright, Luna. You’ve got two weeks, after that I want you back on the smaller cases that we can actually get something from. We clear?”

Miles nodded. Burnie had made it abundantly clear, if this case wasn’t closed in two weeks then he would be reassigned and a dangerous gang would be left to roam the streets of Los Santos. It wasn't like that was anything new but Miles was reaching the point where he was getting sick and tired of leaving cases unsolved, leaving criminals on the streets where they could cause more damage. Stepping back out into the office, Miles’ resolve strengthened. He wouldn't let this one get away.

“Miles, we’ve got a hit on the guy from the fire. Name’s Ray Narvaez Jr, his record’s pretty much clean, not even any parking tickets. I’m running him through the city’s CCTV grid now to see if we can get a location. Even if he’s not one of our guys, he had something to do with that fire, he has to know something.”

Approaching Lindsay’s desk and scanning over the results he was surprised when a match popped up almost instantly.

“Your ding-er’s broken again. Looks like he’s in a Burger Shot downtown; keep track of him Lindsay, Kerry let’s go.”

It just so happened that Ray was indeed sat in a Burger Shot waiting for Geoff and Jack to return from the Suburban next door; they were picking up replacement clothes for him but he had grown bored and skipped out to grab a milkshake, telling them that he would meet them next door when they were done. They were still not back when two fairly sharply dressed guys made their way into the restaurant and made a bee-line straight for him. His first instinct was to panic, instead he quickly sent a text to Geoff under the table warning him to stay out of the Burger Shot before looking up at the men, studying them closely. They were clearly detectives and, when they invited themselves into the seats across from him, he knew something was wrong.

“Can I help you, detectives?”

Miles chuckled, seeing that there was clearly no need for the bullshit he was about to start spinning, this guy obviously knew his way around an informal interrogation. 

“Ray Narvaez?”

“Depends. You looking for a big Puerto Rican dude in a sombrero, you probably want Papa Narvaez.” Ray sniggered before nodding, “Yeah, I’m Ray.”

Miles observed the skinny youth before him. He was exactly as he had been on the CCTV footage, except now the clothes he wore were ill fitting and his expression a little more drained. He clearly knew something, it was whether he could be persuaded to help them or not. Counting himself lucky that he had caught the man alone, Miles began to press the offensive.

“Look, Ray, we know about the fire at your apartment. We also know that you rented the place under an alias. I’m assuming that you saw the gang sign on the door, I’m also going to assume that you know more than you’re willing to tell us. For the sake of argument, let’s say that I already know everything there is to know about whatever you might be involved in.”

Ray’s face fell at this, his fear getting the better of his bravado. He knew that theoretically the detectives sat before him probably didn’t know that much at all, at most they probably had a CCTV image of his face, but being confronted with the possibility made him shiver unconsciously. That was around the time he saw Jack and Geoff walking in, bags in their hands and determined looks on their faces. They walked over to the booth and sat beside Ray, the smaller man having to shift over to the side for them to all fit on the same bench.

“Detectives.”

It was Geoff who had spoken and Ray found the sound of something familiar comforting in the strange scenario. He was about to tell his friends that he could handle it, but hearing Geoff had stopped him. In no way could he handle it alone.

“We need to talk.”

Upon walking out of the restaurant Miles was not a happy man; he was pretty certain that he had just had his ass verbally handed to him by three members of the Vangelico’s crew, whether they were the ones behind the masks or not remained to be seen but the fact was that Miles had nothing on them, as they had so kindly reminded him. He had left the Burger Shot with the moustached man’s warning ringing in his ears, ‘step near one of my boys again without due cause and you won’t be able to step anywhere after I’m done with you.’ He was a detective, he had been threatened before, but something didn’t ring right about the man that had threatened him just moments ago. Resolving to give a description to the sketch artist as soon as he got back to the station he pulled Kerry away and resigned himself to the fact that he would not get what he needed from Ray as soon as he would have liked it. It was still an option, he would just have to get the man alone again. Leaving Kerry to drive Miles began to mull over his next step.

He would get to Ray, it was just a matter of time. Time that he didn’t really have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was wondering, do you guys have any issue with me writing Michael's name Micoo when Gavin says it? Would you prefer I wrote it properly or is it cool as it is?
> 
> EDIT: I've written most of chapter 5 but I'm really not happy with the direction it's taken so I'm deleting it and re-writing it. It might take me some time but I think the way I've decided it should go is far better than where it is right now. Don't panic though, it won't affect anything that is already posted. Thanks for your patience and support with everything, guys :)


	5. Patterns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here! Chapter 5 has arrived. I hope you like where this is going, because after a little rest period and some time to think about it I think I finally do. I may have made some mistakes along the way but I'll correct them as I find them. Thank you for all of your continued support :D!

It took barely a week after Ray’s impromptu meeting with the detectives for the crew to get a reputation; with Los Santos being the thriving city that it was images and videos of their hell raising, which Geoff conducted with the finesse of a symphonic orchestra, spread like wildfire. With Michael and Gavin on street duty in Michael’s newly delivered orange and red Bifta, courtesy of Ray and Ryan’s various contacts, their image became the most circulated across Bleetr, LifeInvader and anything that Ray could think of to post it on. Jack spent her time fixing up parts around the warehouse and helping Ryan with the technical side of shoring up their security systems while Geoff paced back and forth planning activities for them all specifically dedicated to spreading chaos. None of them ever intended for anyone to get hurt, meaning that the planning had to be careful and precise; despite this, leaving Michael and Gavin to follow a precise plan was a lot easier said than done, most of the time they were left to improvise in the wake of catastrophe. No matter the adverse circumstances, hell raising was something that the lads did well — and with Ray at their back using Ryan’s systems to control the roads and call out trouble ahead on security cameras, the city was their oyster. Slowly but surely after the initial rush of press they started to make a name for themselves, the only problem being that they didn’t actually have a name. Their formation had been in reaction to a crisis, not a planned event, and thus they were left wanting when Ray showed them a Bleetr post begging for a name to hashtag. Geoff’s only answer was to let the people decide and watch the magic happen. As the days slipped by they heard nothing more from the detectives and they watched as videos of them gained more views than that episode of Fame or Shame with the two crazy guys assaulting Laszlo. That was around the time that Gavin came up with an idea, a brilliantly stupid idea that left everyone but Geoff and Jack berating him. The newly dubbed ‘Team OG’ simply sat in pensive silence sharing a look that could only mean one thing; Gavin was onto something and Geoff liked it, meaning that Jack — while seeing the good in the plan but still having her reservations — would have to go along with the plan regardless, following behind Geoff and making sure that he didn’t do something stupid and get himself killed.

“No but seriously, hear me out guys. We need support from the people if we’re gonna convince everyone we’re not arseholes, if we help people out they’ll trust us. It’s fool proof.”

“It’d have to be fool proof if you’re involved, you fucking idiot. We’re criminals, we can’t just run around playing superhero!”

The room was filled with conversation following Michael’s response and Geoff took a swig from his beer, studying them all before muttering a simple, “Why not?”

The range of looks levelled at Geoff through the silence caused by his comment was impressive; from Gavin’s surprise at Geoff’s agreement to Michael’s incredulous stare, there was only one reaction that really mattered and that was the supportive nod from Jack, the one that told him no matter what he did she would be there waiting for him regardless of the consequences. At that moment he realised how different his friends were and how much he needed every single one of them, they kept each other together and never showed the stress of the situation that they had found themselves in. By rights when they realised they were at threat from an enemy gang every one of them should have bolted, hidden in their homes or on a far away continent, but they didn’t. Even now, with tiny little things in the news they all followed vigorously hinting that they were being played and that the rival gang was preparing to step up their game, every single one of them was still there in the warehouse, sat around on stacks of pillows or tires drinking shitty beer with him. These people would follow him anywhere, and now he knew that.

“Come on guys, Gavin’s right. If we’re gonna survive this we need people on our side. We need to make people believe, make them realise that we’re not the bad guys.” Looking around again he saw the realisation dawn across all of their faces, he was right and they knew it, “I’m not saying we have to dress in lycra and wear boxers over our tights but we can sure as hell help people out. People who can’t exactly go to the police, they need people they can trust. We help them, they’ll support us when the time comes.”

“That’s all well and good but how do we find these people; most people who aren’t willing to go to the police don’t exactly make themselves easy to find, they’re even less likely to broadcast the fact that they need help.” Ryan’s level gaze came with a very good point, one that Geoff had no idea how to answer. How would they find those in need of help? Leaving this to stew they all retired to their beds and, when they woke the next morning, nothing was said about Gavin and Geoff’s tipsy planning the night before. Geoff continued to search for an answer to their problems, despite his friends’ skepticism.

It just so happened that their answer fell into their laps not a day later.

* * *

“You seen this, Miles? Homicide got three cases in the last week with the same MO, Lindsay’s just pulled in two suspected Arson attacks and theres a rash of dangerous driving reports. It’s like the city’s going crazy.”

Nodding as Kerry spoke Miles neglected to share his suspicions with his partner, wanting to find some proof before filling the younger man’s head with baseless rumour. The fact was that the gang war that they had all predicted was just getting underway and they were all in for a bumpy ride if Miles’ suspicions were correct. The Vangelico’s crew had successfully stepped on the toes of one of the meanest gangs in the city and now they were going to pay for it, but nobody in the station was any closer to catching either of the groups and everyone knew it. Tensions were high as tiny amounts of evidence trickled in and Miles’ time limit for solving the Vangelico’s case counted down steadily. He thought for sure that Burnie had grown sick of the waiting as he was called into the office once again.

“We have a problem, Luna. A very sensitive problem.”

“And what would that be, sir?” Miles closed the door behind him and turned to face his boss, waiting for him to begin his admonishment of the detective for taking so long with his case. What Burnie actually said was nothing close to what Miles expected.

“I think we have a mole.”

Miles’ initial reaction was to sputter out a simple question, “Who the hell would do that?”

Burnie shook his head before letting it drop into his waiting hands, it was clear he had an idea but didn’t want to say. Miles wasn’t having any of that, “Tell me, Burnie.”

Had Burnie not been so distressed he might have called Miles out on his tone, instead he simply said, “Have you noticed anything strange about your partner?”

“Kerry? You think Kerry’s been ratting us out? Who the fuck is he even supposed to be ratting us out _to?_ ” Miles’ reaction was exactly as Burnie had expected it to be, he was defending his partner and that was nothing to be surprised by. Miles and Kerry were close, had been since Miles took Kerry under his wing when the younger man started on the force. There was nothing that Miles wouldn't do for Kerry, everyone in the precinct knew that, which made what Burnie had to say even harder.

“We need to get on top of this Miles. I’m suspending him pending investigation. And before you even ask, I’m not letting you conduct the investigation; you’re too close to Kerry, it needs to be someone impartial. I’m bringing someone in from upstate, they’ll be here later on to collect Kerry’s files.” Burnie’s tone, whilst making it clear that he was hurt by what he was having to do, left no room for argument.

Miles nodded, knowing that nothing he could say would change Burnie’s mind, “Let me tell him?”

Burnie nodded, the gesture serving as Miles’ dismissal. He made his way back into the office with a heavy heart and rounded his desk to see Kerry, hard at work poring over the files.

“Miles, everything okay? I have something I think you might find interesting.”

The elder detective said nothing in response, simply shaking his head and steeling himself for what was to come, “Pack your things, Shawcross.” It was hard for Miles to not stumble over his words but he managed to keep a clear head as he ground out Burnie’s declaration, “You’re suspended pending investigation.”

Kerry’s stuttered questioning was cut off as Miles fell into his chair, “Please don’t make this any harder than it already is, Kerry. I didn’t want to do this, I don’t really have a choice. I’ll make sure the investigator is fair and doesn't pry too much, but you have to go before Burnie has you arrested or something stupid.” Pleading with his friend to be smart about the situation, Miles watched Kerry’s face fall further and further as he packed his things. The dejected expression made Miles’ heart hurt as he realised what he was doing to his partner; this man had risked his life for Miles before, now he would be treated as a pariah until the investigation was complete. It wasn’t fair, but there was nothing that Miles could do. The helplessness clawed at him as the door slammed behind Kerry and Barbra walked over to rest a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll clear all of this up, Miles. Kerry’s got nothing to worry about and neither do you. Now come help me with these case files while Lindsay gets us a coffee, will you?”

Nodding solemnly Miles didn’t even stand, simply wheeling his chair across the room to sit before Barbra’s desk and grab a segment of the pile of files. The past month’s crimes were passing through to be filed and sent out to the divisions that needed to review them, it had become their job to look through them all first and see if anything related to the Vangelico’s case. As Miles began to read the hopelessness began to transform into something completely different; a strange anger built inside him, accompanied by curiosity as he reviewed all of the files. Nudging Barbra and laying three files out beside each other it was simple for them both to see the pattern. At least half of the files all matched the same MO, and it was one that they knew well. The Vangelico’s crew were back in action, and this time they were taking over the city. The internet was awash with videos of a red and orange car causing havoc and Miles cast his mind back to the things he had heard over the scanners recently. The amount of calls about dangerous driving and malicious mischief had almost tripled since his meeting with Ray in the Burger Shot, and one thing stuck out about all of the files; zombie masks.

Working his way back through the various files that had been sent to them Miles began to compile his own file relating to the gang; their habits, the vehicles they drove, their proclivity for destruction. One in particular caught his eye — there had been plenty of homicides not related to the gang at all but there was a significant one that seemed to match their MO in some ways. Three men in zombie masks and matching black overalls had stormed into Schlongberg Sachs and gunned down the entire board of directors, leaving the company reeling and stock prices hitting rock bottom. Though there seemed to be motive, as he looked back through the stack of files relating to the Vangelico’s crew he couldn’t help but feel that something was off about the Sachs shooting. Not once had he see murder on the list of things that he could _definitely_ attribute to them, and yet it would appear that they had heartlessly massacred fourteen people with little more than a shrug not a day ago. Something didn’t add up for him.

His mind awash with question, Miles did the only thing he could think to do, he consulted his team. Waiting until he arrived at home that night he pulled out his phone and began a conference call, “Kerry, Lindsay, Barb, how quickly can you get to my place? I need your professional opinions on something.”

He ignored their various protests until they all agreed. Lindsay arrived first, followed by Kerry and finally Barbra. Once they were all seated around his coffee table he pulled the files from his bag and dropped them on the table.

“Jesus, Miles, you could get in serious trouble for having these!” Barbra’s eyes were wide as she looked to her friend and fellow detective, there had to be a good reason for him to put his career in danger the way he had and now she was waiting for him to enlighten her before she had a mental breakdown.

“She’s right, buddy. Having me here too, you’ll be in some crazy hot water if anyone finds out.”

Miles nodded, knowing that Kerry and Barb were right, but nothing could dull the feeling that he had stumbled upon something important here and he needed their advice badly. “I know about the consequences guys, but we could be totally wrong about this whole case if it turns out that what I’ve found is right.”

He proceeded to explain his theory regarding the shooting at Schlongberg Sachs, pushing through the sniggers regarding the name and pointing out that several of the homicides that seemed to be linked to the gang were similar to it, despite the fact that there was no concrete proof that the gang was involved. Placing the files before his team, Kerry was the first to speak, the certainty in his voice the only assurance that Miles needed, “It’s not them.”

“This is what I’m saying!”

Barbra’s eyes widened, “I think you might be onto something Miles. Think about it, the Vangelico’s job was dangerous — the security were carrying and yet they put their own lives at risk by using stun guns to incapacitate the staff. It doesn't make sense that they’d go to that much trouble to keep the guards alive and then kill fourteen people in one hit, and however many others are being linked to these guys.” She let out a heaving sigh, “I think we’re looking in the wrong place.”

Lindsay nodded, knowing that they were right, “But what do we do about it? Kerry’s under investigation and the precinct is falling apart. Burnie’s more stressed than I’ve ever seen him and he’s been talking to Gus when he thinks that we don’t notice, I found the emails. Something big is happening and I think it’s all linked.”

Miles nodded, his friends were right. He needed answers, and there was only one place that he could get them.

* * *

The Vangelico’s crew didn’t particularly have a specific schedule when it came to their hell raising, after all they were breaking the law and the last thing they needed was to make themselves easy to catch, but Miles had studied their patterns and could say with some confidence that he was in the right place. Sat outside the drive-thru of the Burger Shot where the group occasionally made a pit stop on the rare occasion that they were all out on the road, Miles grinned when he saw the red and orange Bifta pulling in, followed by three others. Waiting as they pulled up and climbed out he watched them talk for a second before a few of them nodded and they all made their way back to their respective vehicles. They were masked up as usual so he didn’t get a look at any of them but Miles still did a small victory thrust with his fist as they began to pull out. This could be the answer to all of his problems… Well, most of them at least. Starting up his engine and following them at a distance he was surprised to find that they were leading him up into the hills near the Vinewood sign. Taking a second to muse over why they would be leading him here his heart began to pound as the group stopped, all of them climbing from their cars and walking towards him. It took him barely a second to realise that he was blown, but he couldn't bring himself to drive away. This case had been driving him crazy, he’d barely been able to scrape together enough time and resources to work on it what with Burnie’s determination to reassign him and he wanted to see the end. The only way to do that would be to find out who was in the damn gang, but he wouldn't be able to do that unless he found a way in. The six people now walking towards him might just have been it.

“Hey there, detective.”

He knew that voice. The scrawny one who had stepped from the brown and black car.

“Ray?”

The snigger that came from behind one of the other masks sent a shiver down his spine. It was very possible that he was in danger here, but it was too late to go back now.

“Out of the car, detective.”

It would be crude to say that he was manhandled to one of the Bifta’s, there was a hand on his arm but it was far from manhandling. As he was escorted into the passenger seat of the lead car he realised that this was technically kidnap, adding another felony to their rap sheet. He had plenty of time to mull over that fact as he was driven back into the city and down towards the docks. It took him a second to realised that they were more than likely taking him to their base, but they had not blindfolded him in any way. Reassessing his assumptions about his current situation he turned to the man in the driver’s seat beside him.

“Whats going on?”

“We’re taking you back to our place for a little chat. Nothing to worry about.”

Hearing yet another voice he recognised Miles realised that he had been right about the man and woman who had appeared in the Burger Shot to support Ray, they were members of the Vangelico’s gang for sure. Miles had been right all along, not that it would do him much good as he cruised towards what could easily be a very sticky situation in the red and white streak that was the lead Bifta.

* * *

“You didn’t even fucking blindfold him, Geoff. You just bought him right into our fucking _home_ without even thinking about our safety at all. He’s a _cop_ for fuck’s sake!”

Miles had been sat on a chair in the warehouse for a good ten minutes listening to the gang members argue around him and quite frankly, he was sick of it. Their arguing was pointless and didn’t give him any information that he needed, on top of that it was giving him a headache, and so he made a bold decision. 

“Would you guys please stop shouting?”

Silence fell far more abruptly than he would have liked it to as all gazes turned to him. With six masked faces staring him down Miles was far from comfortable but that was to be expected in his situation.

“He’s right guys. We need to focus on exactly what we’re gonna do now.” Ray pulled his mask off and dragged one of Jack’s work stools over so he was sitting opposite Miles, “We may as well start with the basics; who the hell are you and why are you following us around?”

Miles froze up for a second, should he tell them the truth or would that just get him even deeper into a shitty situation? Resolved to the fact that things couldn't get much worse for him, he sighed deeply as his exhaustion began to catch up to him, “My name’s Miles Luna. I’ve been investigating you guys since the Vangelico’s job.”

“Well shit, I’m guessing you think we killed all of those fucking people too. You and the rest of your buddies at the precinct.” Geoff sighed, mirroring Ray and pulling up a stool.

Miles shook his head, eyeing the man who appeared to be the leader, “I followed you because I wanted to know the truth. I know you didn’t kill the Schlongberg Sachs board.”

"Schlong..." It was silent for a second before Ray followed his comment with a snigger and just like that it was like the floodgates had opened, relieved laughs echoing around the room. If what Miles said was true then it was possible that they weren’t quite as fucked as they had originally thought.

“So what happens now?”

Miles’ eyes snapped to the man with the British accent who had stayed silent until that point, giving a shrug before looking back to Ray, “I don’t know. I mean we should probably figure out who these guys posing as you are, right?”

The ominous silence that Miles was becoming far too familiar with filled the room again as Geoff’s gaze snapped back to him, “We?”

Miles let out a deep breath that he didn’t realise he had been holding before he nodded, “I don’t like people dying needlessly. I’ll help you.”

_“Won’t that get you in trouble or something?”_

_“If you do this you’re fucked.”_

_“Why would you help us?”_

The different voices surrounded Miles until he felt like he couldn’t breathe and it was only when Ray placed a hand on his shoulder and called his name that he realised he was spacing out, breathing too fast.

“Jesus, guys, step back before you give him a heart attack. We just kidnapped the man and he’s still offering to help us, don’t be assholes.” Ray watched him carefully for a second as his breathing began to even out again. The steely gleam in Miles’ eyes when he opened them again was something Ray could sympathise with, he didn’t want to look weak in front of these people. Ray gave a knowing nod before stepping back.

“If you’re gonna be helping us then we need to be sure that you’re not gonna rat on us, Luna.”

Miles sighed, “What have I let myself in for this time. Look, you can keep a watch on me if you want but I’m not gonna rat, I’ve already got too much shit going on to have that on my shoulders too.”

Geoff laughed, a knowing look in his eyes behind the unnecessary mask that still hid his features, "Ray, go and grab a spare prepay cell from my top drawer." When Ray returned with the phone Geoff handed it to Miles, "My number is the only one in there, I'm trusting you to let us know if anything goes down. If we hear about anything big going down that we’re not involved with, I’ll give you a heads up.”

Miles nodded, it seemed like a fair deal to him, “So what happens now?”

The group shared looks before Geoff sighed, “Head out to the main road and hail a cab.” When Miles seemed surprised at his civility Geoff let out a chuckle, “What, did you think I was gonna knock your ass out and take you home so you could wake up in the morning all confused like in the movies? Fuck that, you’re walking buddy.”

Letting out a laugh at the man’s brashness, Miles shrugged, “Well, I suppose it could be worse.”

It was undeniably awkward as Geoff untied him and lead him to the door but seeing Ray waving to him like they were old friends made Miles smile a little. He was still a little shocked and had yet to figure out exactly how he was going to explain this to his colleagues, or get his car back from the top of Mount Chilliad, but they were things that he could deal with once he’d had a good nights sleep and maybe several cups of coffee the following morning. For now, he focussed on getting home and comprehending what had happened to him so far, after all that would be a huge task in itself and linking it to the case would be even more taxing. Resigning himself to being puzzled for the next few days he made his way home and collapsed onto his bed fully clothed, where he fell into a deep but disturbed sleep.


	6. Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry to all of you who read this; I've been super flaky with writing it so I come to you with a peace offering. This is not a full chapter, but it adds in some new things and hopefully it'll keep you guys sweet until I get my idiot ass into gear. Thank you guys for all of your patience and the ridiculous amount of support for this stupid fic :)

With Miles walking down the street not looking back, they moved inside and closed the door. It was as if Geoff deflated as soon as the door clicked shut, retreating to the kitchen to grab a beer, downing it and grabbing another before he turned to the rest of the crew. He was reluctant to see their reactions but at the same time, if he was going to be punched in the face he wanted it to happen sooner rather than later. It was much as he expected with Michael still fuming, Gavin looking confused and the others sporting grim expressions as they joined Geoff in the kitchen area — throwing their masks into a pile on the table as they arrived. 

“We just had a detective in the workshop.”

“The same detective that harassed Ray in a Burger Shot a couple weeks ago.”

Jack’s contribution to the conversation had Ryan whipping around to glare at Ray incredulously, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ray shrugged, “It didn’t seem relevant — Jack and Geoff were there and it’s not like Miles is particularly dangerous, I mean did you see him?”

Ryan sighed before nodding his acceptance, it was true that he couldn't always be there to protect Ray but with the growing danger it was becoming difficult to stop himself, “We still need to talk about the fact that we’re being framed for murdering over 20 people, all told.”

Every one of them made various noises of agreement before grabbing drinks and sitting down around the dining table. “What are we gonna do about this shit, Geoff?” Despite Michael’s anger at the situation with the detective, he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with his friends for too long — after all, it could easily work out in their favour and he couldn't deny that they needed the support, he just wasn’t sure if it was worth the risk. Watching as the cogs began to turn in Goeff’s head, he looked to Gavin and saw the terrified look on his partner’s face. It had been a long week and they had all been through a lot, keeping busy to keep thoughts of how screwed they were at bay. Now though, with the reality of the situation catching up to them… They were exhausted and, no matter how strong or experienced any of them were, they were all scared. They were scared for their friends and terrified of loosing what they had only just discovered; none of them wanted to loose the relationships that they had begun to form, the strength that they had found with numbers.

“I honestly think that our way out of this shit just hailed a cab home. If we can find some way to get him to give us his files and help us out, maybe we can find a way to stop this before it really gets started.”

“That’s a lot of maybes.” Gavin’s voice was weak as he pointed out what everyone was thinking. Geoff knew deep down that he was right but for the sake of those around him, for the sake of the people that he was now comfortable calling his closest friends, he kept a brave face. 

“I know, buddy… I know.” Standing and moving to ruffle Gavin’s hair he gave a massive yawn, “I know we’ve got a lot of shit to figure out but I’m tired as dicks. I’m gonna head to bed and we can talk more tomorrow.”

He couldn’t say that he was surprised when Jack followed him upstairs. When she saw the look on his face, realised how lost he actually felt, that was when she did something that surprised him. Pulling him into a hug that crushed their ribs together until Geoff thought he could feel her heartbeat she held him close, stroking her hand through his messy hair and whispering comforting words into his neck, “I know how you feel, Geoffy, but you can’t let this break you. You’re the strongest of all of us, we need you.”

Stepping back, she let her hand fall gently against his neck before pressing her lips to his in a sweet kiss, “I’m not letting you check out on me now. I need you to help me keep these kids in line, can you do that?” She breathed out as she pulled away and rested her forehead against his.

In his current state Geoff couldn't even bring himself to protest or be in any way bothered by the fact that his best friend had kissed him in a more significant way than if she were just playing around; it was comforting and pleasant and quite frankly he would be lying if he said he’d never thought about what could happen between himself and Jack. The point remained, however, that her kissing him should have been a big thing, but in their current situation he couldn’t bring himself to care. Instead he continued to hold her close until he felt the tension in his shoulders fade away. They slept together that night, in the bed that Jack had picked for her own, wrapped around each other and sleeping soundly for the first time since they got themselves into the mess that was now their lives.

Waking the next morning was not easy, with the fear looming over them and the exhaustion set deep in their bones the population of Geoff’s warehouse wanted nothing more than to sleep until the problem went away, but they all knew that wasn't possible. The waiting was agony and so they all took to the streets with Michael and Gavin, to all intents and purposes they were fighting the pain with mischief and tomfoolery but their hearts weren't truly in it even then. It was when Geoff received a call from Miles, some six days after his capture and release that Jack and the boys acquired some sense of true calm again.

* * *

When Miles made his way into work late the morning after his impromptu visit to what he had dubbed the Vangelico’s warehouse, dishevelled and tired but otherwise unharmed, his own situation soon became the least of his worries. The man working his way through Kerry’s effects methodically and with such a precise eye that Miles could hardly believe it, that was what worried him. To say that the man gave off a sinister air was an understatement as he smirked his way through his investigation, questioning the entire office before making his way around to Miles last of all. By that time it was fairly clear that he had already drawn his conclusions about Kerry, regardless of the lack of evidence, and Miles could do nothing to sway his opinions. Resigned to letting his partner go to jail for a substantially large amount of time Miles’ day was somehow worse than it had been after he had pulled himself from his bed that morning. Storming into Burnie’s office following his questioning hadn't exactly helped his case, in all fairness.

“You can’t seriously be letting this asshole arrest Kerry right now. Like right now. He’s going to Kerry’s house right now. To arrest him. Burnie, seriously.” In his flustered state Miles found himself tacking extra words onto the end of his sentence that really didn’t need to be there but he was far past caring as he imagined his friend and partner being carted away in handcuffs. Kerry would not do well in custody, he was sensitive despite being a detective, and Miles’ protective instincts to mother the younger man were working on overdrive as he twitched his way around Burnie’s office. 

“Miles, stand still for fuck’s sake man.” Stunned by Burnie’s harsh language, Miles did just that, turning to face his boss behind the large wood desk that took up the majority of the room. “There’s nothing I can do, buddy, I’m sorry. I’m not above the law and neither is Kerry. I honestly don’t think he could have done anything wrong but-“ 

The shrug that ended Burnie’s statement was enough to send Miles into a frenzy, stalking from the office and finding a corner to hide in as he clutched at his hair and attempted to calm down. He was usually the hyperactive one, sure, but he wasn't usually the emotional one and as he began to calm down he realised that he would have to do some investigation of his own if he wanted to save Kerry from spending time in jail in Blaine County. Dust was awful for the complexion, not to mention the fact that the younger detective would never survive without his morning ‘posh’ coffee. 

Knowing that he wouldn’t receive any news about Kerry for at least a few days Miles threw himself into his work. Unable to focus on the menial cases that came through the precinct he found himself obsessing, fixated on those who had kidnapped him and researching them as thoroughly as he could. He started with Ray and worked from there; already having the young man’s file helped immensely but it felt like there was something he wasn't seeing buried amongst the blank lines where — judging by the company he kept — convictions should be, and so Miles began to dig into his background, scouring databases across the world for the scrawny Puerto Rican’s face. Coming across him in Liberty City was the last thing he expected, but the rap sheet he was looking for was there and the various assault charges that were filed against him before he skipped out of town spoke of a desperate escape from the dark and dingy city. There were two other members of the gang that he knew should be fairly easy to track down, the British voice he had heard in the warehouse would have been his next port of call had he not come across something in Ray’s file that intrigued him. A photograph of the kid with an older, moustached man wearing what could only be described as pimp shades on the highway out of Liberty City. That man was Ray’s ticket to San Andreas — if Miles could find him then he would likely find other members of the gang. 

Running the face through databases he waited for the search to provide results. He didn’t anticipate the search taking three days. By the time the results came through he hadn't left the office for over forty-eight hours, too engrossed in his research into the British voice running circles in his head. There was nothing linking a British man to Ray but as soon as a match came up for the man who had helped Ray in his grand escape Miles had all the answers he needed. The name that he found emblazoned across his screen next to the flashing green letters proclaiming a positive match was none other than Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey. He had inadvertently stumbled across the boss and soon found himself delving deeper into the man’s past, which was mysteriously blank - much like Ray's. The only reason that Miles had found him was Interpol’s record of a D&D in Venice some years ago, providing a photograph that was much different but quite clearly the accomplice in Ray’s file. Somehow, the entire crew had managed to evade everything but minor charges their whole lives, despite being members of a prolific gang that had come to all but own huge segments of Liberty City. It was puzzling to say the least.

Later that week — after days of snapping at everyone who attempted to talk to him and getting so little sleep that it was barely worth mentioning — with confirmation that his friend had been remanded in custody and was in jail awaiting sentencing, he picked up the cell phone that had been drawing his eye all week. It took a lot more psyching up than he would ever admit to actually press the call button and by the time Geoff picked up the phone it was close to eleven at night.

“Luna. What’s up?”

“I- I need your help.”

There was silence followed by some muttering on Geoff’s end and it was only then that Miles realised he was on speaker phone. He refrained form cursing and waited for the faceless man to respond but was surprised when he heard Ray provide what he was looking for, “Come to the warehouse. I’ll meet you on the road out front, call this number when you get here.”

With that the line went dead and he was left feeling nervous but fulfilled, the Vangelico’s crew were at least going to hear him out and that lifted the steadily increasing weight from his shoulders at least a little. By the time his cab pulled up at the warehouse, however, that weight was back in the form of nerves; he was, to all intents and purposes, about to willingly set foot back in the lions den. These were criminals and he was a high ranking Detective with the LSPD, by rights he should be carrying six pairs of cuffs, instead he was carrying a file — a file that could easily spell his doom. He took a second to mull over the fact that this was becoming an all too frequent occurrence before hitting the call button on the burner phone for the second time that night. Ray emerged from the darkness moments later, appearing much the same as he had the last time Miles saw him. Upon second glance, though, it was clear that Ray was suffering; the bags under his eyes and his unusually slumped gait speaking of exhaustion and stress, likely caused by the imminent threat of war breaking out on the streets.

Walking into the warehouse for the second time was much different to the first and it took Miles a second to remember that he was here of his own free will when he saw Geoff standing in front of the door.

“We’ve decided, probably against out better judgement, that it would be more beneficial to us all if we were honest with you… Meaning that my entire crew is behind this door with no way to defend themselves. If you screw us over, I cannot even begin to explain the amount of pain you’ll be in.” The previously calm man with heavy lidded eyes and a lazy expression was now in full intimidation mode, and it was working. Miles visibly cowered as Geoff leaned forward almost imperceptibly, “Are we clear?”

“Oh yeah, one-hundred-percent, crystal clear.” Jabbering nervously, as he was prone to do, Miles clamped his mouth closed and followed the pair inside the building. Before he had climbed into the cab a plan had formed in his head but now, seeing all six of them together — maskless but likely still armed, despite what Geoff said — it left him faster than he had even thought it would in the face of their combined might. It was clear that they had all prepared for the worst, the intimidation rolling off each of them in waves, even the sandy haired twig looking guy perched on the kitchen counter looked as if he could probably snap Miles in half. Still, he needed their help, meaning he would have to deal with his fear; for Kerry’s sake.

“So, what did you want Luna?”

“My buddy, he’s been arrested. He didn’t do anything wrong and he’s seriously not gonna make it in prison. I mean he’s super sensitive, he complained when we had to go to a motel and there wasn’t his kind of shampoo in the bathroom. He’s so squishy that I seriously think if I leave him there he’s gonna get killed or something.”

With the rush of words that fell from Miles’ mouth in what seemed like one breath every person in the room visibly relaxed, Geoff returning to his usual sleepy-eyed self as he looked around at his crew. “I think we can help with that. Essentially you’re looking for a jailbreak.”


	7. The Prison Job?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am incredibly sorry that this took so long and is, in my opinion, sub-par but hopefully this will pave the way for more updates as I want to start writing again now that University is over. Look out for more AH AUs! :D

Geoff had made sure that the entirety of the briefing room was clear of anything incriminating before he had even entertained the thought of letting Miles into the warehouse, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous as he lead the detective up the steps to what had become the office-slash-planning room. The noise of every step echoed in his ears as he pushed the door open and moved to the head of the table, the entire crew filing in behind him, Miles in their midst. They were about to plan a heist with an external party, who just so happened to be a detective… the tension in the room was palpable as Miles placed a file on the table.

“This is everything I have on you guys. If you help me get Kerry out and keep him out, it’s yours.”

Geoff and Jack grabbed the file and flipped it open, eyes widening almost simultaneously as they saw the wealth of information that Miles had compiled over the past week. Skimming over the first couple of pages Geoff sighed, closing the file and pushing it away. 

“How the fuck did you get all of this?” Jack’s voice surprised Miles, carrying a depth and quality that he’d never heard and for a second he was too stunned to respond. Stuttering into action, he attempted to explain himself.

“Well, I just went through Ray. I figured that he was what I knew so I latched onto his file and followed it back. Something seemed wrong; he didn’t even have any parking tickets! So, I ran his face. That was how I found Geoff — completely by accident.”

He glanced at Ray muttering, “The lack of parking tickets is probably due to the lack of a licence.”

Geoff sighed, putting the pieces together and knowing exactly how Miles had found him; getting Ray out of Liberty City hadn’t exactly been an easy or clean job and Geoff hadn't been the most careful in his haste to rescue the youngest member of their troupe, caught up in the thrill and excitement of the job. That had been years ago, time had made him far more careful and cautious of his every step and thank God if Miles Luna was on the case — the file presented to them was probably enough to sink every member of the crew using the concept of joint enterprise, and that was the last thing they needed when Michael and Gavin were in the squad, after all they weren't the most careful of criminals. 

“If we help you-” Geoff gestured to the folder, “This disappears?”

Miles nodded, “Yeah, if all goes well I won’t even need it as insurance, you can have it and do whatever you want with it.”

Every member of the crew nodded happily, finding nothing wrong with Miles’ conditions. The only thing that remained was to plan… Which was going to be an enlightening experience.

“You know everything you need to know to get this started?” Geoff looked to Miles who nodded, leading the elder to gesture to the table, “Take it away then.”

“Erm… Okay. Well, he’s in Bolingbroke — I’m not sure what wing but that’s not an issue because the rec yard services all wings so we can just work with that. From what I know about the place it’s work rosters should be pretty easily accessible to anyone with good knowledge of Government systems, I’m assuming that one of you guys has that covered.” He looked around and spotted Ryan grinning at the thought of a challenge before clearing his throat and continuing, “Honestly, it shouldn't be that hard at all, it’s just figuring how to get over the fence; I suppose we could either go in with a bus or a van through the front but then we’d have to get one and doctor records, or we could just go over the top…”

“Over the top? As in take a chopper in and take off again?”

Miles nodded, eyes on the one he knew from his research to be Michael Jones. He had to admit that he was still wary of every person in the room, the things he had read in the previous week making him suspicious of literally every single person he was now surrounded by but for both Kerry’s safety and his own conscience he had to do what he could to save his friend and if that meant colluding with criminals then so be it. 

“We might not have a choice, I mean the fence is like twelve feet high, I’m not climbing over that shit.” Ray’s voice cut the silence that fell and nobody could deny that he was right — climbing over the fence was not possible, even if there was no security it would still take them far too long to get in and out, “I could probably get us a bus, if we had like a month to spare but I think we’re gonna be stuck with the chopper — and even that’s a long shot.”

“It sounds fucking ludicrous. But it also sounds fun, so I’m down with that.” Not every member of the team echoed Michael’s sentiment aloud but there was no denying that breaking into a prison in a helicopter was one of those things that none of them had ever done, and it was certainly on the bucket list of _’Criminally Stupid Shit to do Before you get Glacked’_.

As it turned out though Ray had been right about it being a long shot, acquiring a helicopter at such short notice was beyond even his connections and so the plan to add an aerial prison break to the criminal bucket list fell by the by and the crew found themselves back at the drawing board a day later with zero progress, no ideas and nothing in the way of resources to help them accomplish their daring heist. That said, it had been a fantastic idea and Geoff made a point to file it away for a later date — you never knew when you were going to need a new idea to upset the equilibrium of the criminal economy and a helicopter heist would certainly do that in a city obsessed with sensationalism. 

The key problem with the helicopter heist being off the table was clear after five minutes spend in the meeting room, Miles with his head in his hands as he contemplated exactly what he had let himself in for; nobody had a single idea on what they could do instead to get into Bolingbroke. Jack was the only one to propose something feasible in the time they had left. 

“Of course your idea is fucking related to food, Jack.” Geoff’s glib comment was accompanied by a knowing smile that told Jack he was actually considering the idea.

“Come on, the meat truck is a great idea! It goes in once a week, if we jack it and hide people in the back we’ll be able to get Miles’ buddy out no problem.”

There was a short contemplative silence as they all imagined the various scenarios that could take place with them all hiding in the back of a meat truck and the general conclusion seemed negative to say the least, although the thought of stealing a couple of sweet steaks for a celebratory dinner did cross Michael’s mind only to be quickly written off as he realised that it would be prison food. That shit was the worst. 

“Alright. Ryan, I want to know everything about the schedule of that truck; drivers, routes, you name it. When you know that, find out who’s gonna be on gate duty that day. Until we know all of that we can’t even begin to think about this.”

Ryan didn’t say a word, simply shot the boss a nod and pulled his tablet from somewhere on his person, his eyes narrowing onto the screen as he kept his ears on the conversation. Ray smiled softly as he watched the man, admiring his focus on something that Ray couldn’t even begin to understand; he got his information from people, sources, informants — Ryan wasn’t exactly a people person, making his methods vastly different. When he thought about it, it was interesting how they all differed even when doing exactly the same thing. Geoff’s voice drew his attention back to the table as his thoughts began to drift.

“If we do get this truck we’re all gonna have to cram in the back, there’ll be a maximum of two drivers meaning to get the rest of us in we’re gonna have to employ some grade A Solid Snake shit.”

“I am not hiding in an orange box, Geoff.”

“Ray, you’re a fuckin’ nerd.”

“You know it.”

From there the conversation devolved to the point that it was completely unrelated to the job, with Gavin asking his ridiculous questions as they all did their best to comprehend them and Miles sat in stunned silence simply watching. The groups interactions with the Brit were interesting from his point of view: Haywood actually seemed to entertain his questions, attempting to answer them somewhat seriously; Ramsey guffawed for a while before insulting him and forming a passable answer in the process, usually wrapped in sarcasm and an awful attitude, but that was just Geoff; and the younger members of the gang, Ray and Michael, sat there about as stunned as he was, occasionally letting out an exclamation regarding Gavin’s stupidity or repeating a segment of the question that stuck in their minds as particularly ridiculous. The whole group seemed to work together well despite this, the ridicule falling from Gavin like water off a duck’s back as various insults about his nose and his vocabulary were thrown around like it was nothing. Miles had to admit that there was a certain charm to them and their dynamic, it was no wonder they were a hit with the people of Los Santos.

“Alright boys, I’m going to get a beer, I can’t deal with this shit anymore.” Geoff’s exasperation was clearly not serious but nevertheless he rose to leave the room. Taking note of this, the rest of the room stood alongside him and made to follow him down into the kitchen in the warehouse. It was then that the moustached man turned to Miles and grinned, “You coming, Detective.”

While he didn’t exactly want to make a habit of slotting into the hierarchy of the warehouse Miles had to admit that there was something satisfying about Geoff including him as if they were no different and so he stood along with the crew and made his way from the room behind them, his mind resolutely on Kerry before it strayed to wonder what he was going to do when they had finally finished the job. Initially he had intended to turn the crew in, go back on his word, but seeing them interact and being a part of that had made him question his resolve; somehow thinking about arresting the men who had offered to help him, regardless of his leverage, felt wrong. The crew held some small grain of trust in him, that was clear from the fact that he was actually allowed to be in the place they considered home after suffering a various blows from their rival crew, thinking of betraying that just made him feel dirty so he put it from his mind and kept his eyes on Geoff’s back as they trouped to the kitchen.

* * *

Miles arrived at the warehouse early the next day, having taken a cab home the night before, after a call from Geoff roused him from his sleep. His night with the crew had been odd to say the least and he had allowed himself to get far more drunk than he would have liked, despite his resolution that he would only have one beer in the company of those who considered themselves above the law. He always had been terrible at turning down beer and good company. Calling ahead as he arrived at the warehouse just as he had the first time he was met by Ray and followed the smaller man into the planning room, his journey thankfully lacking Geoff’s intimidation tactics this time. When he arrived at the planning table it was clear to see why he had not been greeted by the boss at the door; Geoff was slumped in his chair at the head of the table nursing both his head and a cup of coffee, which was quite impressive. With the boss incapacitated Jack ruled the table in his stead, somehow managing to call the rowdy crew to order.

“Quiet down, assholes! Ryan, do you actually have anything for me or were you just fucking around?”

Ryan chuckled, finally looking up from the technology surrounding him. “You know I don’t fuck around, Jack.”

“Well that was creepier than it needed to be.” Gavin looked at their hacker, alarmed.

“It was, wasn’t it. What have you got, Ry?”

The hacker watched Jack carefully for a second before nodding and launching into an explanation of what he had found in his searches the night before. 

“The meat truck comes in every Friday ready for the weekend stock take, that gives us three days until the next one. I’ve got a route map, it follows the road from Paleto to the prison so it should be pretty easy to get a hold of it if we block off the road temporarily when we see it coming. The driver slated to take this run is a new guy by the name of Matt, if we take him out and put Jack in the driver’s seat that should give us leverage on the gate guard who’s a randy old man.”

“How the fuck do you know that?” It was the first time Geoff had spoken for the whole meeting and it was with an incredulous look in his face as he addressed Ryan.

“He’s got a record for sexual assault pretty recently, he’s on gate duty as part of his review. 55, overweight, various internet dating profiles. Not too hard to piece together.”

“You’re a creepy genius, buddy. I’m glad we’re the ones paying you this time. What else do we have?” Jack attempted to get the meeting back on track as usual, her calm demeanour paying off as everyone seemed to refocus after their momentary interruption to marvel at how odd their hacking compatriot was.

“The truck isn’t exactly the most durable of things, the one they’ve got on record for this run is old as shit and if we get in the back of that thing we’re all going to die. I’d say the best option is to find a replacement, take out the one that’s on the road, take it’s plate and put one of ours in it’s place. That way we can armour it up so we know we have at least a marginal chance of survival when they start taking pot shots at us.”

Miles listened carefully and soon found himself alarmed by how casually every person around the table seemed to take the news that they were probably going to die, Ryan’s simple admittance that if they didn’t do something they’d all be bathing in lead made the detective marvel. He was under the impression that he was okay with the concept of death, you had to be on the force thanks to the unpredictability of Los Santos’ criminal population, but he had never seen anyone so blasé about death as the six people that surrounded him were. 

“If it’s really that dangerous then maybe we should rethink, I’m sure there’s another way to get Kerry out.” Miles’ contribution drew all conversation to a halt, even the various pieces of technology scattered around Ryan seemed to stop chirping and whirring.

“Getting cold feet, Detective?” Michael’s tone was aggressive and it was clear that Miles’ statement had just confirmed his every suspicion about the trustworthiness of the detective. Miles bristled at the assertion.

“No, I just don’t want to be the one to get everyone here killed!”

He found himself wishing that everything that came out of his mouth didn’t cause the room to come to a total stop, leaving him gaping in the dead air. 

It was Geoff who ended the silence with a great guffaw, “Listen, kid, this crew deals with death every damn day. Ry has a habit of hyping it up, we all do, it makes us feel more badass. The reality of the matter is that it’s not that bad; provided we prepare properly and don’t get stupid on the job we’ll all be fine.” He wiped his eyes clear of tears of mirth, “Don’t you worry your little head about us, Luna. We’ve fried bigger fish before. Granted, that was when we were all doing our own thing before we got roped into this gang bullshit by my dumb ass, but that’s beside the point.”

Miles nodded reluctantly, still not one hundred percent happy with the situation but a little more so now that he had taken Geoff’s words to heart and realised that they were indeed some of the most successful criminals in Los Santos separately — somehow. 

“Ryan?” Geoff was clearly ready to move on and so Miles put his worries to the back of his head to listen to what was said.

“The van they’re using right now is a Declasse Burrito,” A small scoff from Gavin as a grin split Jack’s face, “It makes the run up the Pacific Coastal Highway, onto the Great Ocean Highway and past North Chumash to the prison. It’s a fairly simple route, one road all the way — which, as we all know, is typically a two or three lane highway. The driver doesn’t stop, so we’re gonna have to stop it ourselves; the final leg of the trip goes through Grapeseed. This would be the best place because it’s a quiet little town, if we find a way to pull the van off the road then we can make the swap quick — a diversion is probably the best idea, close the road off and take him where we want him.”

Geoff nodded slowly for a minute, thinking on what Ryan had said, “All of that sounds great, good job Ryan. What I’ll say is that we want a tail on that van, just in case. That way we can let the Grapeseed crew know to get the road block ready when the van hits Paleto. After that it would be best if the tail crew get past the van and we rendezvous in the scrapyard up there after we have the van.”

“All of this sounds great but how are we gonna drop the heat after we get out?” Jack had a valid point but Ryan had an answer for this too.

“We get a Dodo on the Alamo Sea, I know that one of Ray’s people has a hot one we can pick up cheap and sell to the Vagos up North after the job for their trafficking — guaranteed to make a profit that way.”

“Alright so who’s putting the sea plane in the Alamo Sea?” Gavin successfully managed to spit half a mouthful of water across the table but that didn’t make his query any less important. Breaking up the crew for this job was going to be tough.

“Jack’s the best driver, we all know that. So if we have Jack on the tail crew, then drop her at the storage facility in Paleto while the rest of the crew move to the rendezvous. Jack can get the Dodo in position and then steal a car or something to get to the Scrapyard?” Miles watched, amazed as Geoff and Jack took Michael’s suggestion under consideration, Jack deciding that she was comfortable with that before Ryan added it to the notes he had typed up on his tablet. The way they planned was unorthodox but it was definitely a pleasure to watch.

“So, if we’re heading to the Alamo Sea we can just dump the van with a couple pieces of C4 in the back right? That’ll clear that up. The only problem is that the Dodo only seats five and there’s gonna be eight of us.”

“Kerry gets in the plane, there’s no question about that. Jack has to be in the plane too, she’s the only one out of the lot of us who’ll be able to fly that thing.” A small noise of confirmation from everyone at the table, “We’ll need Miles in the plane to make sure Kerry isn’t shitting himself. That leaves two spots.”

It was Ray that provided the answer, “The lads can make the trip, Geoff and Ryan should take the last two seats in the plane. I know you guys can handle yourselves but as the Boss and the… whatever the fuck you are, Ry — you guys get priority.”

Silence enveloped the table for a second before Michael and Gavin agreed that they could make the trip and Gavin got extremely excited about taking dirt bikes over Chiliad. Nobody even tried to talk him down because his fellow Lads had to admit that it sounded fun to tear across the mountain on a Sanchez. 

“There shouldn’t be a problem putting the plane back in the storage facility in Paleto before we sell it, nobody can connect it to us. If we all meet up there and store the bikes too then we can sell it all in a job lot, the Vagos’ll take it all — Ray’s connections can see to that. If we all pile into a van there and head the opposite way down the PCH then we shouldn’t have a problem.”

The room was quiet as everyone went over the plan in their head and tried to think of anything wrong with it, when the general consensus was that there was no way it could get any better they decided to call it a day and move on to acquiring what they needed.

“That’s a plan boys: Ray, look into getting that plane; Jack, talk to your vehicle guy and get us a van; Ryan, monitor chatter around the prison and make sure everything’s quiet. There’s nothing else the rest of us can do for now so just do whatever. Meeting adjourned, bitches.”

* * *

The problem with planning heists that Miles had most definitely not expected was waiting for phone calls; when you were dependent on contacts to provide your materials there was a hell of a lot of sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring, and as good as the crews contacts were they were also limited by their contacts and suppliers meaning that the night after the plan had been finalised found them all sitting around doing nothing and nursing beers and their own impatience.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on Tumblr about this trash: [SparkeyScene](https://sparkeyscene.tumblr.com)


End file.
